(copied from here) There has been a lot of buzz about Virgin Australia joining one of the big three air alliances. First Virgin announced a joint venture with Delta and there was Buzz about VA joining Sky Team soon after. Then in 2011 Air New Zealand invested $143 million into VA buying a 14.9% stake! The blogs then started to buzz again about VA Joining the Star Alliance. Yet to dampen this Buzz CEO John Borghetti told the Australian Business Traveller "You know, we've got so much stuff going on at Virgin Australia that that is really not in our thinking at the moment. That is something we'll think about in 2012 and beyond." As 2012 approached many thought the Star Alliance had a shoe in. Air New Zealand held a near 15% investment in VA. Then on march 29, 2012, to further excite the Star Alliance enthusiasts, VA and Singapore Airline began a comprehensive code sharing agreement, reciprocal lounge access, and frequent flyer benefits! At this very moment, I even thought VA was on the path to join the Star Alliance. However today John Borghetti shocked many when he was quoted saying, "It's wrong to assume Star is the obvious choice" he said, citing that Virgin's US partner Delta Air Lines "is in Sky Team and Sky Team is a very formidable group, and I think Delta are terrific partners." So at this time Star Alliances Dreams are Dead and the SkyTeam Loyalists are buzzing with excitement. However honestly I don't see VA joining any alliance. I believe The Virgins will unite and set up their own alliance, grow together and remain separate of any of the big three. Already with hubs in LAX, LON, SFO, and SYD there's no real need for any of these airline to join an alliance. The Virgin group has already begun reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and redemption across all three airlines. And finally, I think Borgehetti was onto something when he said "There's no question that cross-border mergers are happening and you wonder whether that's going to impact on those alliances....And there are more and more bilaterals being concluded just like we've done between partners which don't restrict your ability to work with people."
Let us see what happens after DJ is split into separate companies first (domestic owned international, foreign owned domestic)... Whomever invests the most (etihad?) will probably have other ideas as to whether an alliance is on the cards...
Next time perhaps "not" in all caps would make more sense. That's the significant word in the lead. Also, it is a "not now" sort of thing, not a never.
that's why i said .... in the head line. Because it's a .... maybe...not now...who knows type of thing. Read the entire thing and get a better understanding of why it's will not join the star alliance....or at least not for now. Honestly, with Ethad not being in any alliance, having the JV with Delta, investment by NZ, I think VA will be independent of all alliances and instead follow models of airlines such of Jet Blue, Alaska, etc.
I'm still getting over the shock of this news as i believed they would finally join an alliance soon and that *A would be the obvious choice - why can't they do what we all want?!?!?
