Mexicana Airlines and Star Alliance will part company on 31 March 2004, making the Mexican carrier the first to drop out of the alliance voluntarily. Two years ago, Ansett Australia departed the alliance as a result of its shutdown.
The stage was set for Mexicana's "termination" from the global airline partnership when the airline - the second largest in Mexico - decided to end its seven-year codeshare agreement with Star member United Airlines, effective from the end of March.
Star's management board discussed ending Mexicana's membership in the alliance at a regular meeting in Frankfurt on 13 November. It noted ahead of the meeting that it regretted "this development but does not see any other solution for the future of the business partnership" once the bilateral relationship between United and Mexicana was going to be severed. Alliance members agreed to keep existing frequent flyer and lounge-access programmes in place through March.
Officials of Mexicana, which has been a member of the Star Alliance since mid-2000, said ending the relationship would give it the freedom to look at "other options" in light of "evolving business trends" in Mexican aviation, but declined to elaborate. Mexicana's sister company Aeromexico is currently a member of SkyTeam, the alliance led by Air France and Delta Air Lines and that grouping could be set for expansion.
Although technically "competitors", both Aeromexico and Mexicana are owned by Cintra Group, a state-controlled holding company, which has committed to privatising both carriers at some point in the future once market conditions improve.
Mexicana currently operates a fleet of 57 aircraft to more than 50 destinations, including 15 in North America.
The Mexicana move adds further uncertainty to the evolving alliance landscape. If the proposed Air France/KLM combination goes forward, it is expected that KLM's current alliance partners - Continental and Northwest airlines - would be added to SkyTeam.
That would propel the SkyTeam alliance to second in size, on measures of seat capacity and total passengers carried. While still behind Star, it would rank ahead of oneworld, Star chief executive Jaan Albrecht noted at a briefing in Warsaw when Star welcomed LOT Polish Airlines into the alliance as its latest member. These comments include projected passengers and capacity of future Star member US Airways.
Down to 14 members when Mexicana departs, Star will return to 15 when US Airways formally joins the alliance, some time next spring.
Source: Airline Business
