Star Alliance, the world's longest serving and most comprehensive airline alliance, has been named Best Airline Alliance by Australian Business Traveller, Asia-Pacific's leading website for business travellers and frequent flyers.

Australian Business Traveller Editor David Flynn said the inaugural awards program recognised "trend-setters and game-changers in the highly-competitive business travel market".

"With 28 member airlines under its wing, Star Alliance can take business travellers almost everywhere they need to go," said Flynn. "Our readers especially value unique benefits such as the ability to use frequent flyer points or miles to upgrade across all member airlines.

"Star Alliance is also continuing to find new ways to enhance the business travel experience - from its growing network of branded airport lounges and the opening of the state-of-the-art Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport, to the ongoing roll-out of Gold Track priority lanes that allow travellers to move through airport security more smoothly."

"With ANA flying to Australia later this year and with Turkish Airlines planning to fly to Australia as soon as possible, subject to fleet availability and other operational considerations, Star Alliance will be an even better option for Australian business travellers."

Currently 10 Star Alliance member airlines operate services to Australia, including: Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, THAI and United. A number of offline members are also active in the market, including, Austrian, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines and SWISS.

Mark Schwab, CEO Star Alliance commented that the Best Airline Alliance Award was testament to the dedication of Star Alliance member airlines in Australia.

"We are delighted to win this important award. With more airlines serving this market than any other alliance we offer our customers a significant choice of flights and transfer connections. It shows that by working together, even without a domestic presence in Australia, our member carriers can deliver genuine benefits to the country's international business travellers."

Australian Business Traveller Awards were judged by a panel of business travel experts, with honours presented across 33 categories, including first class suites and business class seats, airport lounges, frequent flyer programs, inflight food and wine and travel technology.


About Australian Business Traveller:

Launched in 2010, Australian Business Traveller (www.AusBT.com.au) is the Asia-Pacific region's leading website for business travellers and frequent flyers. With over 500,000 unique monthly visitors and 1.6 million page views, Australian Business Traveller also ranks as Australia's largest independent travel website.

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 Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 18,500 daily flights to 1,330 airports in 192 countries.

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