What’s happening at Star Alliance? We talk to Renato Ramos, VP Corporate Strategy

This article is sponsored by Star Alliance

When you think about it, running an airline alliance is a strange job. Virtually all customer engagement is via one of the constituent airlines, with the alliance providing an underlying network bringing them all together.

Perhaps even more challenging is that this is all done whilst complying with competition laws and where collaboration is key to delivering quality services that benefit the customer.

As Star Alliance approaches its 30th birthday in 2027, I spoke to Renato Ramos, VP Corporate Strategy, about what the alliance has in store.

Out with the old, in with the new

The past few years have seen some member churn at the alliance. Perhaps highest profile is that of SAS – a founding member – defecting to SkyTeam following an investment by Air France KLM.

Overall, says Renato, this has been a result of the changing nature of their business, “not because they are discontent with the value proposition of an alliance”.

“But currently, with the 25 members that we have, we are covering more than 90% of the globe. We are happy with the reach that we have achieved at this point. Of course, any interest is evaluated by members, because it’s beyond just the connection for customer experience, but also the potential evaluation of further joint ventures and the proximity that we enable between carriers.”

In the next few years Asiana, a Korean airline, will also leave Star Alliance as the brand is retired and its operations absorbed by Korean Air following the merger, leaving just one Korean flag carrier. Losing these airlines is clearly a challenge for Star Alliance’s network but, given the wider aviation landscape of consolidation, is outside of the alliance’s control.

“All these movements that happen in the market also happen in the opposite direction, right? We have a new member joining Star Alliance in early 2026, that is ITA Airways.”

ITA Airways, which took up Alitalia’s position in SkyTeam when it first launched, is due to join the alliance following its acquisition by Lufthansa Group, one of the founding members.

“We are working diligently on all the integration processes and we are happy with the exchanges that we have had with our colleagues in Rome.”

A lounge for thee and a lounge for me

The alliance trading of the past few years has led to new opportunities, including in the lounge space.

Star Alliance was the first to open alliance-branded lounges with a Star Alliance lounge in Zurich which opened in 2001 – just four years after the alliance was founded. It now has a relatively mature portfolio of six lounges around the world, with Paris-Charles de Gaulle Lounge (reviewed here) and Guangzhou lounges the latest additions to its portfolio.

Star Alliance members no longer have access to the SAS lounges in Scandinavia, and Asiana’s network of lounges will be taken over by Korean Air sooner rather than later.

“How we address that gap is currently a discussion amongst our member airlines. We are evaluating with them if they have the intention of opening a lounge in those markets, or if it should be an alliance lounge….we are always assessing these opportunities, including in other non-home markets as well. Whenever we find the business case, and there’s an alignment with carriers, we move forward.

Similarly, and as important as our branded lounges for our collective business, are the 1000+ lounges that we offer to the travellers all across our network. It’s a super good experience. Being able to guarantee this extensive network is a differentiator to all the other competitors.”

Enabling seamless connections

Ultimately, Renato says, the alliance’s goal is to enable a seamless travel experience especially when you’re connecting between airlines.

“There are places and customers that United – one of our biggest airlines – is not able to deliver end to end, and that’s where a partner airline comes and connects that traveller to their final destination. What we want to do is continue the experience at the same service level that the customer was promised right at the beginning with United, and have that replicated with the 24 other members.”

Trying to get 25 disparate member systems and policies to work in lockstep is no mean feat. Renato points out that the diversity and reach of alliance member airlines is one of its greatest strengths.

So far, Star Alliance has enabled cross-airline free seat selection for 90% of its members, allowing you to select seats for your entire booking – even when it includes partner flights – on the same airline website it was originally booked from.

Paid-for seat selection is next, as is priority seat selection for status members and many other ancillaries including baggage upgrades, tracking and more. Ultimately, the alliance wants to let you manage your booking in a single place, unlike the current status quo which involves jumping around different airline websites to get it all sorted.

Improvements at Heathrow T2

Closer to home, Star Alliance is making some changes to Heathrow Terminal 2 departures.

”One thing that we intend to launch towards the end of the year is the modernisation of the baggage drop experience. We’re going to have automated, joint solutions to bagdrop. This should allow more flexible use of the T2 departures area prior to security, with airline- agnostic solutions that can cope more easily with the varying peaks in demand.”

Star Alliance is invested in the success of its location at Terminal 2. As the newest of Heathrow’s terminals, that should come as no surprise.

The accomplishment of co-location and having all member carriers under one roof has delivered for customers in terms of connections, customer processing and quality lounge access. In fact, Star Alliance has more carriers co-located at Heathrow Terminal 2 than at any other airport location worldwide.

Recently, however, Heathrow has been conducting a review into the current airline terminal allocation, particularly at Terminals 2 and 3.

“We are actively engaged in conversations with Heathrow to support the maintenance of all members in the same T2 terminal, with all the convenience that we can offer for connections and considering the 15 million customers that we serve each year there. It is vital that we proceed in a way which keeps our member carriers together and delivers for our customers.”

Star Alliance credit cards .… what’s next?

One story that we’ve been following with interest on HfP has been the launch of a Star Alliance credit card in Australia in 2023.

“The origin of the Australian credit card is quite similar to the origin of the other products that we have. It is something where we could add value, where the carriers couldn’t deliver something on their own.

That’s why today Australia is the sole market for the Star Alliance credit card, because in other markets we have one or more airlines with their own initiatives in place that we don’t cannibalise or compete with. Australia was an alignment of many factors that made it possible.

We will review regulatory input which the Reserve Bank of Australia is defining in the upcoming months. Once those are outlined, we will consider next steps.

In Australia, we are very happy with the footprint that we are able to create in a country where we don’t have a home carrier. It’s creating a lot of value for our partner, HSBC.”

Star Alliance’s latest brand campaign titled “Rhythm of Excellence” celebrates everything it enables for member airlines to deliver a seamless customer experience.

If you’re a fan of big brass and very cool airline imagery, then take a look on YouTube here.