STAR ALLIANCE CEO Jaan Albrecht, was Guest of Honour at the Aviation Club of Great Britain at London's Institute of Directors last week. The former Mexicana pilot was emphatic in making the point that the strength of the alliance was a key factor in the member airlines' performance over the last 12 months "If our members had continued to operate as separate airlines, the loss of feeder traffic would have forced them to scale back their networks in a much more drastic way. Global airline alliances offer a depth of market penetration that has allowed the participating airlines to reduce frequencies and destinations to a much lesser degree than otherwise would have been necessary," he said. Jaan Albrecht also highlighted an agreement with Rockwell Collins, a global leader in aviation electronics, which is aimed at standardizing and simplifying the member airlines' fleets in order to reduce capital requirement and maintenance costs. "Earlier this month three of our members asked the world's leading IT suppliers to come up with ideas for a common IT platform for Star Alliance airlines. This is a huge opportunity for bottom-line savings," he said.
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