SHANGHAI Airlines has agreed with Star Alliance to terminate its membership by the end of October as a result of its recent acquisition by China Eastern Airlines, which is a future member of the rival SkyTeam Alliance.
The carrier will continue to offer all Star Alliance customer privileges and its passengers will enjoy their worldwide alliance benefits until October 31 this year, including the collection and redemption of miles, participation in various Star Alliance fare products as well as the provision of extra benefits to Star Alliance Gold and Silver customers.
"As a subsidiary of China Eastern, we will follow our parent to be part of SkyTeam. But it's too early to offer a timetable as China Eastern hasn't officially joined that alliance," a Shanghai Airlines spokesman said yesterday.
China Eastern in April signed a memorandum of understanding with SkyTeam, which includes China Southern Airlines and Air France-KLM.
After acquiring its smaller local rival Shanghai Airlines, China Eastern now owns more than 330 aircraft and has flights linking 151 destinations. Its participation in the SkyTeam in the first half of next year will help it gain access to 856 destinations in 169 countries around the world.
Shanghai Airlines joined Star Alliance in 2007. After it quits the team, Star Alliance will have only one Chinese member - Air China. The only other major air alliance is Oneworld, whose only toehold in China is via Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific.
The SkyTeam is the world's second-largest airlines coalition after Star Alliance. It has nine members and two associate airlines, serving an estimated 384 million passengers a year on more than 13,133 daily flights.
Airline alliances seek to reduce costs by sharing such services as offices, maintenance facilities, catering, computer systems and check-in counters.
Meanwhile, China Eastern said in a statement yesterday that Shanghai Airlines will transfer its stake in trade, food and media companies to related subsidiaries of the China Eastern group to avoid horizontal competition.