Singapore Airlines (SIA) is about to take a step closer to becoming a full member of the Star Alliance by concluding a bilateral partnership with SAS, as part of a wider move by the group's five members to consolidate coverage of the Asia-Pacific region.
Founding Star airline SAS is widely understood to have finalised an alliance agreement with the Singapore flag carrier. The agreement, to be announced shortly, follows Lufthansa's earlier tie-up with SIA and is expected to lead to it establishing similar bilateral arrangements with other members.
Industry sources suggest an agreement between United Airlines and SIA is likely to follow. "SIA is talking to United, as well as other carriers, and is still leaning in the direction of Star but this is on a bilateral basis and it's premature to talk about full membership," says an airline official.
Meanwhile, a third Star member has widened the scope of its co-operation with SIA with more codeshare services to Europe and Australia. Lufthansa will now codeshare on Singapore flights to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. SIA in turn is to codeshare on Lufthansa services to 11 German cities as well as to Brussels, Geneva and Vienna.
SIA's other allied carriers, Air New Zealand (ANZ) and Ansett Australia, are to become Star members next March. ANZ has concluded a codeshare with Star partner Air Canada, covering services between Auckland, Honolulu and Vancouver and Auckland, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Also waiting to join Star is All Nippon Airways (ANA), following bilateral agreements earlier this year with United and Lufthansa. The Japanese carrier has applied codeshare with United from 25 October on 20 transpacific and domestic routes.
Danish carrier Maersk Air has agreed a co-operation deal with SAS. The tie-up includes codeshares on Maersk services to the UK from Copenhagen and Bilund and the Danish carrier joining SAS's frequent flier programme.
Source: Flight International
