EVA Air will become a member of the Star Alliance next year.
The airline group announced today that its Chief Executive Board had accepted the Taiwanese carrier’s membership application, with the airline scheduled to join the alliance in 2013.
“EVA Air is a very good fit for Star Alliance as the airline will add many new routes to our global network, with a specific focus on the growing Far East aviation market. This will increase the choice for our customers and is in line with our mission of being the leading global airline alliance for the international traveller,” said Mark Schwab, Chief Executive Officer of Star Alliance.
EVA, which is based at Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport, will add two brand new destinations to the Star Alliance network – Kaohsiung and Surabaya. In total, the addition of EVA will boost the Star Alliance’s network to 22,000 daily flights to 1,345 destinations in 191 countries.
“After careful evaluation we concluded that Star Alliance offers the best match for EVA Air. Our networks complement each other and we will expand the existing Alliance flight options in the growing cross-straits market. We look forward to significant synergy in both service enhancement and expansion of our customer base. In addition, our partnership with Air China makes the Star Alliance especially attractive to us”, said James Jeng, Chairman of EVA Air.
Star Alliance currently has 26 members, making it the largest of the three airline alliances. EVA will join the likes of United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada and Air New Zealand in the alliance, along with Asian airlines ANA, Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Thai Airways and Air China.
