World’s Top Airline CEOs Descend on Queenstown

World’s Top Airline CEOs Descending into Queenstown this December

More than two dozen CEOs of the world’s top airlines will meet in Queenstown this December, following Air New Zealand’s successful pitch to secure the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board meeting in New Zealand.

The annual Star Alliance conference will take place across three days from 12-14 December, combining both Chief Executive and Alliance Management Board meetings.

The two Board meetings will cover Star Alliance key business decisions for the year ahead including voting on membership development, financial expenditure, product development and marketing programmes.

Approximately 80 attendees representing the 29 airline members and Star Alliance are expected to attend, as well as more than 30 international media.

"This is the first time New Zealand has hosted this significant Star Alliance event and it is a reflection of the strength of Air New Zealand's influence in the alliance that members have agreed to come here," says Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe.

The conference will be held at Millbrook Resort, with a number of other events and activities to be hosted throughout the Queenstown region. Up to 200 guests are expected to attend the gala dinner on the Monday evening.

The 29 airlines of the Star Alliance combined employ more than 400,000 staff, operate 4,000 aircraft and carry 623 million passengers per annum. The member airlines’ combined turnover of US$153 billion per annum represents approximately 30% of the total aviation industry’s turnover. To put this into context, this sum is nearly eight times New Zealand’s GDP.

The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 with current member airlines Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines and Air India have been announced as future members.

Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 21,050 daily flights to 1,167 airports in 181 countries.

ENDS

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