ANA : STAR ALLIANCE PARTNERS WITH PLUG AND PLAY TO ACCESS LATEST INNOVATIONS FROM SILICON VALLEY

Important step in the Alliance's Digital Strategy

BEIJING, China - December 26th, 2017 -Star Alliance has entered into a partnership with Plug and Play, the world's largest start-up accelerator and innovation centre. This will allow the Alliance to identify relevant start-ups and accompany them throughout their idea gathering and development processes, as new products and technology for the travel ecosystem are created.

Based in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play not only supports existing start-ups financially, but provides guidance and mentorship as well as contacts to companies interested in their ideas. Regarding travel and hospitality, Plug and Play's mission is to discover, support and scale disruptive technologies that are defining the future in this field.

'Partnering with Plug and Play is an important step in our strategy of becoming digitally advanced and delivering seamless travel experiences', said Jeffrey Goh, CEO Star Alliance. 'An early understanding of future technological and digital trends, coupled with the possibility to participate in the development at an initial stage, will ensure the long-term success of our new digital strategy.'

'We look forward to helping Star Alliance transform their innovation roadmap. Through this partnership, we will introduce them to the best and brightest start-ups in the travel industry,' said Saeed Amidi, Founder & CEO of Plug and Play. 'Their commitment to utilizing start-up technologies will bring the travel industry to the next level and we are honoured to have them on board.'

As Star Alliance transitions into its third decade, it is developing digital capabilities centrally, which can then be used by its member carriers to enhance their own products, with the aim of extending care to their regular customers even when they are travelling on other member carriers.

About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect start-ups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 27 locations globally giving start-ups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 start-ups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate start up ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over US$6 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

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 recognized 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 India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Avianca Brasil, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 18,400 daily flights to 1,300 airports in 191 countries. Further connecting flights are offered by Star Alliance Connecting Partner Juneyao Airlines.

Further information can be obtained via:

Star Alliance Press Office
Tel: +49 69 96375 183
Fax: +49 69 96375 683
Email: mediarelations@staralliance.com; www.staralliance.com
Twitter @staralliance https://twitter.com/staralliance
Facebook: www.facebook.com/staralliance
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/star-alliance
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/staralliancenetwork
Instagram: https://instagram.com/staralliance/

Plug and Play:
Allison Romero
1-408-524-1457
allison@pnptc.com