Star Alliance the first global alliance with an LCC platform: SAA’s Mango becomes the first partner

The spectacular growth of low cost airlines has meant their transition from niche players to carriers with sizeable networks. Networks that can be larger than those of full service rivals, having more frequency, and operating to under-served markets, or to points not flown at all by the full service carriers.

This has made them attractive to global alliances, especially when LCCs are strong in large markets. Some of these locations - Brazil, India - are where Star Alliance has a small presence and a stronger representation with other full service carriers is not possible. Star, in Dec-2015, formally launched its Connecting Partner Model (CPM), becoming the first global alliance to offer a way to work with LCCs. This is two years after Star mooted the programme, and three years since SkyTeam announced its consideration of one.