Juneyao Airlines partners with Air China and China Eastern – is it a candidate for Star Alliance?

China's privately-owned Juneyao Airlines is seeking a broader path. Thoughts of partnerships have progressed from ambition to reality, with Juneyao interlining with Singapore Airlines and more recently forming reciprocal codeshares with both Air China and China Eastern. Despite a not insignificant fleet of 30-odd A320 family aircraft, Juneyao remains relatively unknown. That will change as the carrier seeks deeper international partnerships. The Shanghai-based carrier has already caught the eye of Star Alliance, which has a void in its network since the 2010 exit of Shanghai Airlines following that carrier's acquisition by SkyTeam's China Eastern.

But for now, independence of a global alliance seems to be the objective for Juneyao. There are a number of independent airlines to have leveraged a strong domestic network to become friends of many, and not just from one alliance.

The codeshares with Air China and China Eastern are different, with little route overlap. China Eastern is top dog in Shanghai, but Juneyao has more Shanghai slots than China Eastern could ever hope to gain by growing organically. Likewise for Air China, which is trying to build up its Shanghai presence to compete with China Eastern. These are duelling ambitions and Juneyao is in the prize. No doubt it has already received a quick lesson on managing partners.