I was thinking about the lack of Star Alliance presence in Australia since AN went out of business. As the largest alliance wouldn't you think they would like some sort of presence in the domestic Australian market?

Sure you have SQ, CA and NZ feeding international pax in, but what about the large domestic market there? I appreciate its limited really to QF and DJ/VA, but with no alliance partners linking to SQ's international flights, is this not potentially restricting pax inbound?

If you want to buy into a global frequent flyer scheme your only option is currently QF if you do a lot of flying in Australia.

Any sign of VA/DJ looking to sign up soon?

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): Any sign of VA/DJ looking to sign up soon?

Borghetti stated a few months back that VA won't be looking at joining an alliance for a few years. But it could go either way with Skyteam or Star. All that's certain with an alliance is that it won't be OneWorld.

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): As the largest alliance wouldn't you think they would like some sort of presence in the domestic Australian market?

I can think of a lot more important priorities for *A than domestic coverage in a country of 22 million people, Russia and India come to mind, not to mention the likelihood of losing their Brazilian member. A domestic partner in Australia would be nice, but hardly essential ( in much the same way that for OW a domestic partner in Canada would be nice, but the lack of one is hardly the end of the world).

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): I was thinking about the lack of Star Alliance presence in Australia since AN went out of business. As the largest alliance wouldn't you think they would like some sort of presence in the domestic Australian market?

Australia is somewhat unique in that most of the population live in or near to the state capital cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Canberra). Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are all well served by flights to Asia with only Perth missing out on flights to the USA etc. Of the other cities (Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra) they don't have much international traffic but they are somewhat smaller and in Adelaide's/Canberra's case its only a short flight to MEL or SYD. There is simply little need for feeder flights for the airlines of Star. That said most do have arrangements in place with DJ and some with QF (albeit without the points for customers).
All that being said I still think it is only a matter of time before DJ/VA joins Star.

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): Sure you have SQ, CA and NZ feeding international pax in

And AC, UA/CO, TG, OZ.

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): but with no alliance partners linking to SQ's international flights, is this not potentially restricting pax inbound?

I'm sure SQ and other Star Alliance carriers have interline agreements with QF and DJ and connect hundreds of passengers every day on their domestic flights. For example, the AC website permits you to book AC/QF connections to many cities in Australia using QF domestic flights beyond SYD.

TG, OZ, SQ, CA AC, UA, NZ serve the big cities pretty well as it is. In all reality if you are wanting to get to one of the smaller cities, you will have to give up on earning miles on a *A carrier. It would be nice for *A to get an AU carrier, but I think they need to focus more on getting an Indian and more of a LATAM presence than an Australian carrier.

Quoting ordjoe (Reply 5): LATAM presence

They got covered that one with the entry of AV/TA and CM.

India is their big headache now.

Both NZ/SQ have got agreements with DJ to carry its passengers withing Australa.

NZ now code shares on all of DJ's domestic flights (since 29July). NZ FF can now earn on DJ as well

Quoting TCASAlert (Thread starter): no alliance partners linking to SQ's international flights, is this not potentially restricting pax inbound?

SQ is building a very strong relationship with VA at the moment, so I could see other * airlines jumping aboard the VA wagon to help feed their international operations.

Quoting Zkpilot (Reply 3): There is simply little need for feeder flights for the airlines of Star.

While I do generally agree with what you're saying, these big international airlines need the regional feed to be competitive with QF and OW. This is the biggest reasoning (IMO) behind the SQ-VA deal. It gives SQ access to the entire VA regional network (which is growing) and that opens up a significant market for them.

I don't think VA is interested in restricting itself to a single alliance (at least for now while they're growing), and would prefer to tailor their own network of partners that give them the best opportunities.

I agree with the sentiment that * really doesn't need an Australian partner...