Star Alliance announced today that its Chief Executive Board (CEB) has unanimously accepted the membership application of EVA Air. This decision underscores the Alliance’s long term strategy of seeking network growth and providing access to new markets which show strong economic potential and development.

“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 Far East. 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, CEO Star Alliance.

Since its founding nearly 15 years ago, Star Alliance has progressively built its presence in Asia/Pacific and will have eight member carriers based in this region by mid-2013.

Through its future membership in Star Alliance, EVA Air will be able to offer its customers access to a global network, along with seamless travel and status recognition within the various member carrier frequent flyer programmes.

“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, EVA Air.

The integration process will now begin, with the respective teams at EVA Air and Star Alliance commencing the work which needs to be completed before a new airline can join the Star Alliance network. Air China will be assisting in this process as the mentor airline.

EVA Air’s network of 62 destinations will add Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Surabaya in Indonesia as unique airports to the Star alliance network. In addition, Taiwan’s geographic location adds to the quality of the Star Alliance hubs in Asia, it has the shortest average distance to all major cities in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, the network of 30 airlines (the current 26 and four future members) will offer more than 22,000 daily flights to 1,345 destinations in 191 countries.

About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines, EVA Air and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 20,800 daily flights to 1,300 airports in 189 countries.

About EVA Air:
EVA Airways was formed in 1989 as Taiwan’s first privately owned international airline. It is an affiliate of the respected Evergreen Group and sister company to global container-shipping leader Evergreen Line. It flew its first scheduled flight in 1991 and today serves a network of business and leisure destinations in Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America. Its routing within Asia is among the industry’s best, and with just one easy stop in Taipei, travelers can connect onward to most major cities, including main destinations in China. EVA makes more flights from the US, connecting to more destinations in Asia than any other airline. EVA Air currently operates 59 Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus aircraft including 6 MD-90s, 8 MD-11Fs, 16 B747-400s, 11 A330-200s, 3 A330-300s and 15 B777-300ERs. EVA Air has established a network of destinations across the globe, stretching to Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania and linking more than 60 major cities- a truly global air transportation network.