15 godina Star Alliance-a

In 1997, Star Alliance as the first global airline

alliance launched a completely new concept in

aviation. We led the field with ideas that improved services for our passengers

globally. Our airlines moved closer together in airports, IT systems were tailored

to enable seamless travel and countless smaller and larger projects made travel

easier and smoother.

There’s been a lot of change in aviation in the last 15 years — a whole business

segment has emerged with the low-cost carriers, we have a new generation

of huge widebodies, we suffered the effects and after-effects of 9/11 and we

have learned to cope with disruption from events as diverse as volcanic ash and

political revolution in our carriers’ home countries.

Star Alliance has remained relevant throughout — for its member airlines, and most importantly, for its

passengers. To maintain our relevance, we must ensure that we remain ahead of the curve, innovating to meet

the ever-changing demands of the global frequent traveller.

Croatia Airlines employees are among over 400,000 staff across the Alliance working daily with individual

passengers to deliver on the fundamental promise of seamless travel. I should like to thank you for your part in

the success story that is Star Alliance.

Mark Schwab, Chief Executive Officer of Star Alliance

Croatia Airlines accomplished one of its strategic goals by

joining the Star Alliance network in November 2004. Joining this

prestigious alliance confirmed that Croatia Airlines operates in line

with the highest international aviation standards and provides its

passengers with comfortable and safe journeys to their destina-

tions.

The Star Alliance network covers regional hubs to which the Croatian market

is naturally oriented, which contributes to increased competitiveness and the

strengthening of Croatia Airlines’ business position. Its membership in the network

enabled the company’s presence on new markets, the optimisation of its flight

schedule and business network, the rationaliszation of costs and a number of

other benefits, such as the use of common know-how and the IT system.

The company’s network products have been improved to bring many additional values to the passengers,

who are provided with services of recognizable quality and standards. In addition to new opportunities for top

quality travels, our customers can choose from a large number of destinations all over the world and use our

common global transportation products.

Its membership in the network enabled Croatia Airlines to strengthen its position as the regional leader in

South East Europe, bringing it additional global recognition through the Star Alliance brand.

Srecko Simunovic, President & CEO, Croatia Airlines

STAR ALLIANCE NEWSCELEbRATINg 15 yEARS

Of ImPROvINg gLObAL AIR TRAvEL

STAR ALLIANCE

ThE bIRTh Of STAR ALLIANCE

STAR ALLIANCE: A Chronological history

1997-1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

gOvERNANCE

INfRASTRUCTURE

MAy, 14: Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines launch the Star Alliance network. OCTObER: vARIg brazilian Airlines joins Star Alliance.

MARCh: Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand join Star Alliance. OCTObER: ANA joins Star Alliance.

MARCh: The Austrian Airlines group, comprising Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways, joins Star Alliance.ApRIL: Singapore Airlines joins Star Alliance. JuLy: british midland and mexicana Airlines become Star Alliance members.

SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance launches StarNet.

NOvEMbER: Star Alliance announces the completion of its fulltime Alliance management Team, the executive body of the partnership.

MAy: Star Alliance business centre opens in Los Angeles (the centre was closed in 2004 as part of creating a stronger centralised organisation). AuguST: Opening of a Star Alliance business centre in frankfurt. DECEMbER: Opening of a Star Alliance business centre in bangkok (the centre was closed in 2006).

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

gOvERNANCE

AWARDS

MARCh: Star Alliance is first to launch a global e-service initiative.

AuguST: Opening of the first Star Alliance lounge in Zurich. OCTObER: Zurich lounge is named among the world’s ten best by forbes magazine.

MAy: Star Alliance launches downloadable timetable. AuguST: member airlines launch comprehensive frequent flyer awards.

MAy: Jaan Albrecht announced as CEO.

NOvEMbER: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in U.S. business Traveller magazine poll.

MARCh: Asiana Airlines joins Star Alliance. ApRIL: Spanair joins Star Alliance.OCTObER: LOT Polish Airlines joins Star Alliance.

JuNE: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in Skytrax poll. SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance selected as best airline alliance by U.K. business Traveler magazine.NOvEMbER: Star Alliance selected as best airline alliance by U.S. business Traveler magazine.

INfRASTRUCTURE

Star Alliance was born on may 14, 1997 with five

founder members — Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS,

ThAI and United. Announced at a ceremony in

frankfurt, with widebodies from the five founder

airlines on display in an iconic nose-to-nose

formation on the ground, the alliance was simply the

biggest tie-up to date in the aviation industry.

A close-formation flyby of the five widebodies

over the airport secured the event a special place in

aviation history.

Star Alliance was conceived from the outset as

a loose cooperation between the airlines involved

— with no intention to underpin this with cross-

investment or other deeper forms of balance-sheet

operation. The focus was firmly on marketing - and

the passenger. The underlying motivation that

customers attracted by this new global network

would fill airline seats and so contribute to profits

was, of course, an important element, but financial

benefits took a backseat to the passenger vision.

The CEOs of the founder airlines outlined a future

where passengers could travel across the joint

network as easily as they would connect across the

route map of a single airline.

global access, seamless service and worldwide

recognition were the Alliance’s three main attributes —

tailored for a target audience of frequent international

CONTINuED ON pAgE 4

At the time, it was ground-breaking: five major airlines forming an alliance that would give passengers access to a global route network comprising over 6,000 daily departures to 106 countries, with the promise of “seamless” global travel and the ability to earn frequent flyer miles wherever they flew.

mAy 14, 1997Widebodies from the five founder airlines — Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, ThAI and United — in an iconic nose-to-nose formation at the joining ceremony in frankfurt.

32

2004 2005 2006 2007

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

AWARDS

INfRASTRUCTURE

MARCh: mexicana Airlines’ membership in Star Alliance terminates. MAy: US Airways joins Star Alliance.NOvEMbER: blue1 joins as the first regional member, followed by Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines.

MARCh: Star Alliance launches Asian Airpass OCTObER: Star Alliance launches the Round the World mileage Calculator. DECEMbER: Star Alliance launches global Interline E-Ticketing.

MARCh: TAP Portugal joins Star Alliance.

SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance finalises deal with Amadeus for common information technology platform. OCTObER: Star Alliance Interline E-Ticketing available across Canada and the U.S.

JuNE: Star Alliance named as world’s best airline alliance in Skytrax survey.

FEbRuARy: Star Alliance carriers start flying from the new Central Japan International Airport (Nagoya).MAy: member carriers open joint ticketing facility at mexico City’s International Airport. AuguST: Opening of Star Connection Centre in munich.

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

gOvERNANCE

AWARDS

ApRIL: South African Airways and Swiss Interna-tional Air Lines join Star Alliance.

JANuARy: Star Alliance launches online interactive tool for U.S.-based travel agents and corporate travel planners/bookers. ApRIL: African Airpass introduced. MAy: Upgrade Awards available on Asiana, TAP and ThAI.JuLy: United Airlines joins Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.DECEMbER: SWISS becomes 10th member to offer Upgrade Awards.

SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance voted best airline at business Traveller Awards.

DECEMbER: www.staralliance.com website relaunch.

JuNE: member carriers collocate in new South Wing, Terminal 1, at Tokyo’s Narita Airport

DECEMbER: Air China and Shanghai Airlines join Star Alliance.

MARCh: Introduction of Common baggage Service facility at Chicago Airport International Terminal. JuLy: Air New Zealand launches Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.DECEMbER: SAS offers members Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.

MAy: Star Alliance celebrates 10th anniversary.

JANuARy: Star Alliance voted best Airline Alliance by business Traveler magazine (U.S.).AuguST: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance in the Skytrax World Airline Survey for the third consecutive time (2007, 2005 and 2003). SEpTEMbER: Star Alliance wins best Airline Alliance Award from business Traveller (UK).

MARCh: Launch of visit Southern Africa Campaign.

JuLy: Opening of first lounge in North America at the Tom bradley International Airport in Los Angeles. OCTObER: Air Canada, Lufthansa, SWISS, United and US Airways relocate to the new South Terminal at miami International Airport.

INfRASTRUCTURE

mARKETINg

customers, who were travelling the world to meet

the needs of an increasingly globalised business

environment.

beyond passenger benefits, the CEOs said they

would pool their purchasing power to negotiate

better deals with suppliers for provision of amenities,

facilities, technology and even aircraft. Some

benefits were seen as possible in cargo, but this was

never really the focus.

“Indisputably, the race to form the biggest airline

alliance has a new leader. While a slew of partner-

ships have been fashioned over the past few years,

none provide quite the same punch as the new Star

Alliance,” travel writer Stacy Small wrote in Travel

Agent magazine at the time.

brazil’s varig was already earmarked as the

sixth member, and indeed joined Star Alliance just

five months later in October 1997, by which time

it had achieved the fundamental requirement for

membership of having a partnership agreement with

all the other member airlines.

Within days, press speculation was rife as to which

airlines would join up next.

South African Airways, Air New Zealand, Ansett,

british midland, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines

were all quickly rumoured as future joiners.

The beauty of the Star Alliance association was

its simplicity, and the inherent avoidance of any

areas that might attract antitrust attention and so

present barriers to its going ahead. Its promise of

giving more choice and a better service offer for

customers negated any possible downside for the

consumer. Right from the beginning it was made

clear that the individual airlines would retain their

distinct characters. This was not a merger by stealth.

“The Star Alliance poses no threat to competition

and provides distinct customer benefits,” the

founder airlines said.

The proof of this came both in regulatory

endorsement of the alliance idea on both sides

of the Atlantic, but also in the announcement of

further rival alliances, the now familiar oneworld and

SkyTeam.

American Airlines, british Airways, Cathay

Pacific, Canadian Airlines and Qantas announced

in September 1998 that they planned an alliance

link-up. Oneworld was born on february 1, 1999.

Aeromexico, Air france, Delta Air Lines and Korean

Air followed suit and formed SkyTeam in June 2000.

Today, Star Alliance has more than doubled in size

in terms of destinations served and comprises a

far wider mix of airlines, some of whom are global

players and others that reinforce the network with

regional strength. New members are selected

carefully to meet high standards in terms of safety

and service, as well as for their ability to complement

the existing network.

Alongside the rival alliances, competitive pressures

are now coming from powerful unaligned carriers —

with their policy of global connectivity via a central

hub, such as those in the gulf region — and from

low-cost carriers, which offer a lower base of service

in return for cheap fare deals. In this environment,

it becomes all the more important that Star Alliance

continues to deliver on those early promises of

seamless travel for all of its passengers.

“Indisputably, the race to form the biggest airline alliance has a new leader. While a slew of partnerships have been fashioned over the past few years, none provide quite the same punch as the new Star Alliance.”Stacy Small, TRAvEL AgENT mAgAZINE

54

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

AWARDS

INfRASTRUCTURE

ApRIL: Turkish Airlines joins Star Alliance. JuLy: EgyPTAIR joins Star Alliance.

JANuARy: Circle fare and Airpass Calculator launched. FEbRuARy: China Airpass launched. AuguST: Auto Document Check launched. SEpTEMbER: Turkish Airlines participates in Star Alliance Upgrade Awards.

JANuARy: Star Alliance receives market Leadership award from Air Transport World.

OCTObER: Launches new branding campaign.

MARCh: member carriers move under one roof to Terminal 3 at beijing Capital International Airport and to Terminal 2 at Shanghai-Pudong Airport. JuLy: Opening of Star Alliance lounge at London-heathrow Terminal 1; Carriers move together under one roof at the main terminal of Seoul’s Incheon International Airport.DECEMbER: Opening of lounge at Paris - Charles de gaulle Airport Terminal 1.

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

INfRASTRUCTURE

“The Anniversary is not about holding one,

single event, but rather, to celebrate with

employees and customers at a local level, and

to say ‘Thanks’ for all that they have done over

the past 15 years to make Star Alliance what it

is today,” said mark Schwab, CEO.

At major hubs, local Star Alliance Airport

Teams are planning celebrations in individual

airports. Lounges and check-in areas will yield

surprises for travellers who choose to fly on

that particular day, may 14.

Details of the celebrations and thank yous remain

a closely-guarded secret until the day itself.

Check www.staralliance.com and

www.facebook.com/staralliance

on may 14 and the following days for full

information on 15th Anniversary activities.

Where Star Alliance is today

Star Alliance’s competitiveness can be

enhanced further by focusing on quality.

Its strong frequent flyer Programmes plus

the home market strength of all members

together with a truly seamless product create a

compelling customer proposition which none of

the other competitors will be able to achieve on

a global scale.

This comes as a strong statement from

the very top, as it was defined collectively

by the Star Alliance member airlines’ CEOs.

Together, they believe this is the right recipe to

ensure the Alliance maximises its competitive

strength in an ever more challenging operating

environment.

mAy 14 mARKS STAR ALLIANCE’S 15Th ANNIvERSARyFifteen years ago this month, a dream — to create a global airline alliance made up of the world’s best airlines — came true with the creation of Star Alliance. At the time, the Alliance consisted of five major airlines, and over the last decade and a half has grown five times larger and is now the leading airline alliance.

mARKETINg

MAy: TAm joins Star Alliance. JuNE: Aegean Airlines joins Star Alliance. NOvEMbER: AviancaTaca Airlines and Copa Airlines to join Star Alliance.

AuguST: Launch of brazil Airpass.

JuLy: member carriers move under one roof in the new Terminal 3 at New Delhi International Airport. OCTObER: member carriers collocate at haneda Airport’s new International Terminal.

So what does this mean in practice?

The CEOs have identified a number

of essential services that form

the cornerstone of the Alliance’s

commitment to passengers. Surveys

show that while satisfaction with the

Alliance remains steady at a high level,

passengers still do not always get the

service that they expect. Our joint aim

must be to close this gap.

Serving the Star Alliance Customer

Star Alliance is a collection of

separate airlines that each has its own brand, its

own character and its own rules and regulations.

but for the customer, the airlines are all members

of the same family — that tagline stating that your

carrier is “a Star Alliance member” brings with it a

shared responsibility to help other airlines in the

family to deal with their customers.

While frontline staff may not always be able to

resolve a problem for a customer from another

airline as easily — for example because they

cannot access the PNR — the aim must always be

to give all customers the best possible service, as

has been the case from the birth of Star Alliance.

This may mean working together with agents from

another airline to resolve a customer’s problem.

meanwhile, we are working centrally on changes

that will forge stronger links between customer

service units at the different carriers and in some

cases give greater access to tools, which allow for

a quicker solution to customer service requests.

Through-CheckinPassengers who are flying on multiple legs to

reach their destination should be able to receive

all of their boarding cards and have their luggage

checked through to their final destination, even

when different sectors of their trip are on different

Star Alliance carriers. The only exception is when

this is not permitted due to local regulations in

individual markets.

In practice, about one in five passengers tell us

through-checkin did not work for them on their

CONTINuED ON pAgE 8

2008 2009 2010OCTObER: Continental Airlines joins Star Alliance. DECEMbER: brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance.

FEbRuARy: Launch of middle East Airpass. JuLy: Star Alliance launches book and fly. AuguST: Star Alliance develops Common IT mobile Platform.SEpTEMbER: Circle North Asia fare launched.DECEMbER: meetings Plus product for meetings travel launched.

JuNE: member carriers move under one roof in Terminal 1 at London-heathrow Airport; first alliance to move and operate at Terminal 1 at barcelona El Prat Airport.

76

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

gOvERNANCE

mARKETINg

JuLy: Shenzhen Airlines accepted as future member.DECEMbER: Ethiopian Airlines joins Star Alliance.

JANuARy: All Americas-based member carriers participating in Upgrade Awards.ApRIL: micronesia Airpass becomes a fare product. JuLy: Star Alliance goes mobile with iPhone App. AuguST: farefinder App for mobile devices unveiled.OCTObER: b/E Aerospace to supply Alliance’s long-haul economy class seats.

AuguST: CEO Jaan Albrecht nominated to lead Austrian Airlines. DECEMbER: mark Schwab appointed new CEO.

JuLy: Star Alliance best alliance at Skytrax World Airline Awards. OCTObER: Star Alliance voted best airline alliance at business Traveler Awards.

MARCh: brand campaign for biosphere Connections.

ALLIANCE DEvELOPmENT

PRODUCTS

AWARDS

2011 2012JANuARy: The new United brand replaces Continental and United; Spanair’s membership in Star Alliance terminates.MARCh: EvA Air accepted as future Star Alliance member.ApRIL: british midland International’s membership in Star Alliance terminates.

JANuARy: Conventions Plus becomes first alliance convention product to offer online booking.

journey. In an ongoing programme, the carriers

are now working together to iron out data incon-

sistencies in the communications between their IT

programmes which mean that a through-checkin

command gets rejected. Our target is for this to

work 100% of the time.

for frontline agents at checkin desks, there are

three cardinal rules to make sure through-checkin

works for as many passengers as possible:

1) Always check back with the passenger to

ascertain his/her final destination.

2) If a through-checkin fails at the first attempt, try

again! In some cases the first failed command will

have opened the flight for through-checkin, the

second attempt will then be successful.

3) And finally — we know that many of our

systems have manual workarounds for the case

where the first automatic TCI attempt has failed.

priority bag DeliveryOne of the Star Alliance promises to customers

with gold status and other premium customers

is that their bags will be tagged as priority bags

and be first on the belt for collection at their

destination.

In practice, this only works when airline

employees at every step of the way follow

procedure, so that the next people in the chain

can do their part. In summary:

1) bags must be marked up as priority baggage at

checkin.

2) They must be segregated from non-priority

bags in sorting.

3) Loading must follow the rules, so these bags

can be quickly offloaded at the other end.

4) finally, they must be ahead of other bags when

delivered to the collection belt.

Shared belts and other issues sometimes make

it hard for passengers to assess whether priority

bags did in fact make it to the belt first. but even

our own internal monitoring proves it does not

always happen. Correct procedure and virtual

teamwork are critical to success in this area.

Interline baggage handlingTransference from one airline to another is a

risk area for baggage, even across the Alliance.

Tackling this requires different solutions on the

ground, depending on the particular challenges of

the individual airport.

In some locations, Star Alliance has created a

Star Connections Centre whose function is to step

in when a connection is tight and make sure that

a passenger’s bags make the transfer in time.

When time is tight, the standard baggage transfer

process may take just too long, and transfer

directly from one aircraft to another is needed.

for 2012, Star Alliance has selected 17 stations

for special attention on baggage interlining

processes with the aim of improving performance.

It remains important to ensure that as many bags

as possible make their connections

and so arrive with the customer at the

final destination.

Frequent Flyer Recognition

The frequent flyers who attain

gold status with Star Alliance are the

lifeblood of the Star Alliance network.

These passengers need to be made

to feel special at every step of the

way, regardless of which Star Alliance

frequent flyer programme they belong

to.

most travellers in this group are well

aware of the benefits to which they

are entitled — priority checkin, priority

baggage delivery, additional baggage

allowance, lounge access, priority

boarding and priority waitlisting. On top

of this comes the additional feel-good

factor of being “recognised” as a

valued customer, regardless of which

airline the passenger flies on.

Customer surveys show that as an

Alliance we do not always get this right

— they do not feel equally appreciated

on all airlines. So next time you come

across a Star Alliance gold passenger

in the course of your daily work, try

to make him or her feel that little bit

special.

“The Anniversary is not about holding one, single event, but rather, to celebrate with employees and customers at a local level, and to say ‘Thanks’ for all that they have done over the past 15 years to make Star Alliance what it is today.”maRK ScHWaB, CEO, STAR ALLIANCE

98

A snapshot of the 25 Star Alliance members

Total revenue ($US) $160.9 billion* Airports served 1,293Annual passengers 648.8 million Fleet 4,256Daily departures 20,500 Lounges more than 950Number of Employees 411,218 Countries served 190

* all figures as of April, 2012

Star Alliance Member Carriers Fleet Number of Major hub size employees airports

Soon to join

Adria Airways (JP) Ljubljana

Aegean Airlines (A3) Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Rhodes, Larnaca

Air Canada (AC) Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary

Air China (CA) Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai

Air New Zealand (NZ) Auckland, Los Angeles, Hong Kong

ANA (NH) Tokyo, Haneda, Osaka

Asiana Airlines (OZ) Seoul Incheon, Seoul Gimpo

Austrian (OS) Vienna

Blue1 (KF) Helsinki

Brussels Airlines (SN) Brussels

Croatia Airlines (OU) Zagreb

EGYPTAIR (MS) Cairo

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Addis Ababa, Lome

LOT Polish Airlines (LO) Warsaw

Lufthansa (LH) Frankfurt, Munich

Scandinavian Airlines (SK) Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm

Singapore Airlines (SQ) Singapore Changi

South African Airways (SA) Johannesburg

SWISS (LX) Zurich

TAM (JJ) São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia

TAP Portugal (TP) Lisbon, Porto

Thai Airways Intl (TG) Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai

Turkish Airlines (TK) Istanbul, Ankara

United (UA) Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York (Newark), San Francisco, Tokyo (Narita), Washington (Dulles)

US Airways (US) Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Phoenix

Avianca, Taca Airlines (AVTA) Bogota, San Salvador, San Jose, Lima

Copa Airlines (CM) Panama City

EVA Air (BR) Taipei

Shenzhen Airlines (ZH) Shenzhen

14

29

352

288

102

232

71

81

9

51

13

79

48

54

355

136

104

49

90

156

71

91

179

1,262

340

150

60

59

100

452

1,615

26,000

24,474

10,800

33,183

9,041

6,000

350

3,300

1,095

7,500

5,635

2,887

39,938

12,833

13,929

9,223

7,644

29,700

7,055

24,563

15,599

86,402

32,000

12,000

4,772

5,489

8,000

10