We have the ability to have more than one member in India, says Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh

Jeffrey Goh has been the CEO of Star Alliance since 2017.

India is an important member of Star Alliance, which has 26 member airlines across the world, says Jeffrey Goh, Chief Executive Officer, Star Alliance. “We have the ability to have more than one member in India,” he added.

Star Alliance will celebrate its 25^th anniversary on May 14. Air India is the only Indian carrier that is a member of the alliance. It became a member in 2014.

Goh, who has been the Alliance’s CEO since 2017, says that “it will have to be a gap (in the Alliance’s network) that we will need to identify”, which will decide from where and when a new member is admitted to the Alliance.

Edited excerpts:

Q: Is the Alliance looking to expand its membership in India? Could it be a low-cost airline?

A: India is a very important market for us and we have the ability to have more than one member in India. To the extent that history is of relevance, we have not had the need for a second member in India. We work closely with Air India and so have our members. The scope is available to us but we have not yet seen the need to have to trigger that scope.

Having said that, in 2017 we made a decisive shift in our strategy, shifting away from membership growth to focusing on better customer experience and better customer journey. We have just become more selective of airline or airline candidates joining the Alliance. That goes to show that we are not closed to business for Indian airlines to be part of the Star Alliance membership.

At this time, we are returning and recovering from two years out in the wilderness. It is too early for us to be making decisions on whether it is India or anywhere else in terms of membership expansion.

The dust still needs to settle on how this industry emerges and navigates out of the COVID recovery process. Then there will be better clarity on where network gaps might appear.

Q: What will trigger taking on another partner?

A: It will have to be a gap that we will need to identify. It will be an airline that will need to bring value to the Alliance. We are 26 members large today, adding more members has the risks of complexities so we want to be clear that when we induct a new airline into Star Alliance it has to bring value to the rest of the members. That applies to India and beyond.

Q: AI was taken over by the Tatas in January. Has the cooperation between Star Alliance and the Tatas increased?

A: AI is a valuable member of Star Alliance. It provides very important feed and de-feed traffic for us into domestic India and also beyond. Cooperation between AI and the remaining other airlines post-privatisation is too early to assess right now. There are management changes that are happening in AI. I think it is too early to say there has been increased cooperation.

Our hope is there will be better optimistion of the partnership between AI and the other member airlines. Leveraging greater revenue increments for AI and the other member airlines. I also think that the member airlines and we ourselves look forward to the opportunity of new ownership in providing investments that would enhance products and services, that will ensure that customers who are travelling not on AI  but when they connect from AI to Alliance airlines or vice-versa will get a superior and enhanced product.

Among other things, privatisation provides great opportunities for AI to engage in investments in its products and services.

Q: By when do you see cooperation with an AI owned by the Tatas and member airlines increasing?

A: AI has been cooperating with member airlines pre-privatisation. Whether it is with Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa, cooperation has been there.

We hope that the new management will bring different perspectives to increase AI’s cooperation with other airlines. We are expecting great things as AI changes its ownership and control.

Q: Indian airlines and airports are increasingly using technology. How can Star Alliance help them?

A: Let me begin with the perspective of our member airline Air India. I think many of our members welcome the opportunity of AI’s privatisation with the hope that there will be more investment in its products, services and technology.

We will be working with AI together to drive further progress in the digital and technology activities, products and services we have today.

We have a long history of digital and technology capabilities and innovations and so first and foremost, our aim will be to support AI making sure that it is also leveraging the opportunities of digitalisation and automation within Star Alliance.

As regards airports in relation to technology products and services, we have the credentials and DNA of many airport products and airport services innovations. Chief among them is the biometric solution which was rolled out a couple of years back.

We want and welcome the opportunity to work with Indian airports, particularly Delhi airport where AI is present to support their customers in experiencing and benefiting from the seamless experience of the biometric solutions.

Even during the crisis, we calibrated our approach in terms of capital expenditure and resource expenditure on digital products and services, one of which is the digital connection service or digital connection assistance which was rolled out in November 2020.

Very shortly we will be announcing it at a European airport, that will also be enabled for customers to digitally connect themselves between the arriving gate and the departure gate. So, customers will have control of their own experience. These will help us ensure that disruption in terms of misconnections can be minimised.

Q: What about partnering with airports run by Airports Authority of India?

A: If they are the gateway for us to work with more airports in India, we will look forward to engaging with them. But ultimately it has to be the outcome at the airport itself that will benefit the experience of the customers. If AAI can support us and we can find synergies to work with AAI airports then we welcome the opportunity too.