Air New Zealand has matured from a strong regional player to a carrier able to offer global connections through its membership of the Star Alliance.
The agreement means ANZ is able to link into the networks of six of the world’s major carriers – United Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways and Varig. This will be widened by the end of the year when All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airlines join.
An immediate benefit of joining Star Alliance is ANZ’s membership of the global ticket offered by partner carriers.
The Star Alliance Round-the-World ticket is valid on all eight airlines, which gives opportunities for stopovers in most cities of the world.
The price leads-in at £1,149. Conditions include a maximum of 29,000 miles and 15 stops. The minimum number is three.
A typical route would see passengers leaving Heathrow on one of Air New Zealand’s daily flights to Los Angeles and flying on to the South Pacific.
They could transfer to Ansett , fly to Sydney and then on to Asia with Thai. The last leg would be on Lufthansa back to Europe.
ANZ already offers the global Escapade ticket with existing partners Ansett and SIA. This costs £998 and is also limited to 29,000 miles.
ANZ is working with Lufthansa and SAS to improve European services by sharing flights to Asia. More codesharing is also expected by other members.
The carrier is also considering opening a ticket desk in the Star Alliance office in central London.
A spokeswoman said ANZ’s tickets were already selling well this year because of people booking early for millennium celebrations, but membership of Star Alliance will help sales.
She said: “We now have a worldwide network with our Star partners, but our unique network has brought something to the alliance with our South Pacific connections.”
She said ANZ was targeted due to its regional network and flights to Australia.
Previously, Star Alliance carriers struggled to compete with other airlines to Sydney and Melbourne, especially with the British Airways/Qantas partnership.
ANZ and Ansett’s membership of Star Alliance means the partnership serves 760 destinations in 112 countries.