AiRUnion moves towards Star as S7 joins oneworld

Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it will begin codesharing with the Russian airline alliance AiRUnion, which is made up of the carriers Domodedovo Airlines, KrasAir, Omskavia, Samara Airlines, and Sibaviatrans. The deal will help Lufthansa, which serves eight cities within Russia, create domestic connections. Likewise, the AiRUnion carriers will have access to Lufthansa's international network.

While the deal doesn't make AiRUnion a member of Star Alliance, of which Lufthansa is a founding member, it does move the Russian alliance closer to Star. AiRUnion already codeshares with Star carrier Austrian Airlines on the Moscow-Vienna and Krasnoyarsk-Vienna routes.

Novosibirsk-based S7 Airlines, Russia's number-two carrier, also announced a few weeks ago that it was in talks with British Airways to join the oneworld alliance. Aeroflot, the country's largest airline, is already a member of SkyTeam. So because there are three major airlines/groups in Russia (Aeroflot, S7, AiRUnion) and there are three major world airline alliances (SkyTeam, oneworld, Star), it would make sense that AiRUnion will probably become a Star member in the coming months.

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Star Alliance looks to India, Russia, and cargo

Jaan Albrecht, the chief executive of Star Alliance, said that he is hoping that he can announce the inclusion of an Indian and a Russian airline in the alliance sometime this year. India and Russia are the two major holes in the alliance's network that remain to be patched. "I am sure that by the end of 2007 we will be able to make an announcement about a new partner, first in India, and probably next year in Russia," he said. "The development of the aviation industry in Russia and India is quite amazing. We wanted to take time to study, to analyze which carrier would be successful... If you just take Russia, there are today about 250 carriers. We see gradual consolidation."

Potential Russian candidates for inclusion in Star include S7 and the KrasAir-led AiRUnion alliance. Flag carrier Aeroflot is already a member of competing SkyTeam. In India, Albrecht revealed that Star is in talks with Air India and Jet Airways. The other major market that Star recently entered was China, when it included Air China and Shanghai Airlines.

Star is reportedly also interested in starting a cargo-only division of the alliance. "Our focus is on passengers, but cargo has been coming on our agenda since last year and we are exploring the possibilities," said Albrecht. "Cargo is a totally different environment, totally different market. We are very careful. But it would be the same logic, the same drivers, the same pillars for a successful cargo alliance."

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