Mexicana de Aviacion will be given only "second tier" membership of the Star Alliance when it becomes the 10th airline to join the grouping, Flight International's sister on-line service Air Transport Intelligence (ATI) reports.
State-owned Mexicana says it is joining Star on or around 7 July, but although the airline will be advertised as a full member, it will be regarded internally as a lower-level partner, and existing members are already referring to it as a "Starlet", says ATI.
The airline's status means it will have less clout in areas such as decision-making, but will not be expected to make the same level of budgetary contributions to Star as other carriers of comparable size.
Mexicana's likely membership of the alliance was disclosed by Thai Airways International president Thamnoon Wanglee last month after a meeting of Star chiefs in Sydney (Flight International, 12-18 May). He also said that the grouping was "working on a definition of an associate membership".
Source: Flight International
