Star Alliance Turns 25

A Copa Airlines aircraft in Star Alliance livery

Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, turned 25 over the weekend.

The alliance was founded on May 14, 1997 by airlines on three continents, namely United Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, and Thai Airways International.  Star Alliance soon adopted its first slogan, “The Airline Network for Earth,” with a stated goal of being “an alliance that will take passengers to every major city on earth.”

The creation of the alliance resulted in the formation of two competing alliances, oneworld, which was founded in 1999 by American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, and SkyTeam, founded in 2000 by Aeromexico, Air France, Delta Air Lines, and Korean Air.

Oneworld currently has 13 members, while SkyTeam has 18.

At the time of its tenth anniversary in 2007, the Star Alliance offered 16,000 daily departures to 855 destinations in 155 countries.

Currently, the alliance boasts 26 member airlines, including Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Austrian, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Swiss, and United.

Today, the Star Alliance network offers more than 10,000 daily flights to almost 1,200 airports in 184 countries.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)