Is Emirates Inching Towards Joining Star Alliance?

In the past, Emirates has collaborated with other carriers, but currently is not a member of any of the three global airline alliances

One of the world’s biggest aircraft maintenance-repair service suppliers, Turkish Technic and Emirates, the United Arab Emirates based airline company which has the world’s largest Boeing 777 fleet, have signed an aircraft maintenance agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Turkish Technic will perform base maintenance services on five Boeing 777 of Emirates fleet. The base maintenance operation of the first Boeing 777 has already commenced at Turkish Technic’s Istanbul Ataturk Airport facilities on April 1st. The other aircraft within the scope of the agreement will undergo base maintenance operations at Istanbul Ataturk Airport facilities in the upcoming months.

Just a few days ago, Emirates and US United Airlines have activated their codeshare partnership, allowing Emirates customers to enjoy easier access to an expanded choice of US destinations. Emirates customers are now able to fly to three of the nation’s biggest business hubs – Chicago, Houston or San Francisco – and connect easily to an expansive network of domestic US points on flights operated by United.

With the launch of the partnership, Emirates customers heading to the US, can now look forward to access to more than 150 U.S. cities in the United network, via the three gateways.

New Turkish Technic aircraft maintenance agreement signed just a few days after announcing the codeshare deal with United may perhaps be an indicator that Emirates is maybe once again considering joining the Star Alliance.

In the past, Emirates has collaborated with other carriers, but currently is not a member of any of the three global airline alliances – Oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance.

In 2000, the airline briefly considered joining Star Alliance, but opted to remain independent at that time.

Star Alliance is the world’s largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May, 1997, its headquarters are located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and Jeffrey Goh is its CEO. As of April 2018, Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenger count with 762.27 million, ahead of both SkyTeam (630 million) and Oneworld (528 million).

Star Alliance’s 26 member airlines operate a fleet of ~5,033 aircraft, serving more than 1,290 airports in 195 countries on more than 19,000 daily departures. The alliance has a two-tier rewards program, Silver and Gold, with incentives including priority boarding and upgrades. Like other airline alliances, Star Alliance airlines share airport terminals (known as co-locations), and many member planes are painted in the alliance’s livery.

Commenting on the new agreement with one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates, Mikail Akbulut, CEO of Turkish Technic, said: ‘‘We are delighted that Emirates has entrusted us with the base maintenance operations for five of their Boeing 777 aircraft. As a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul provider of comprehensive aircraft and component services, we are committed to delivering the best-in-class MRO services for our customers. We believe this agreement marks the beginning of a long-standing partnership with Emirates.”

Operating as a one-stop MRO company with high-quality service, competitive turnaround times, comprehensive in-house capabilities at its state-of-the-art hangars, Turkish Technic provides maintenance, repair, overhaul, engineering, modification, tailor-made PBH and reconfiguration services to many domestic and international customers at five locations.