The Star Alliance member carriers serving Tokyo’s Narita Airport will begin operations from new state-of-the art facilities in the South Wing of Terminal 1 as of Friday, June 2, 2006. This move hails the completion of one the alliance’s biggest co-location projects, which now has the carriers sharing the biggest dedicated Star Alliance branded terminal in Asia.

The South Wing of Narita Terminal 1, along with Satellites 3, 4 and 5, will be the new home for Star Alliance member carriers ANA, Air Canada, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, SWISS, Singapore Airlines, THAI and United at the alliance’s foremost hub in Japan.

Jaan Albrecht, Star Alliance CEO said: “Completing the co-location here in Narita is a milestone in our world-wide ‘Move under one Roof’ strategy. We now look forward to offering our customers a top notch facility at what is, after all, one of our major hubs in Northeast Asia.”

In total, the 10 member carriers operating from Terminal 1 offer more than 794 weekly flights, to 30 destinations in 15 countries.

ANA President and CEO Mineo Yamamoto said: “As the Japanese home carrier in Star Alliance, having access to a world class facility at our prime international airport is of the utmost importance. Thanks to our membership in Star Alliance, ANA has been able to increase the number of connecting passengers to or from our fellow Star Alliance members and with the new facilities now in place at Narita Terminal 1, we are certain that this trend will continue.”

In a first in the airline industry, the check-in area for the member carriers has been arranged in zones according to class of travel, with Star Alliance Gold Card holders being served at an exclusive area. Additionally, more than 120 self-service units have been installed where customers of the member carriers can make use of the latest automated check-in technology.

Once airside, passengers travelling in First or Business Class as well as Star Alliance Gold Card holders can make use of up to six lounges - four ANA Lounges and two United Lounges (United First International and Red Carpet Club). Located in Satellites 3, 4 and 5, the lounges are conveniently positioned within easy walking distance of the departure gates.

Under the new terminal processes minimum connection times can be reduced from 110 minutes to 45 minutes for international flights; from 130 minutes to 60 minutes for domestic-international flights and from 110 minutes to 75 minutes for international-domestic flights.

Customers of Star Alliance member carriers connecting from international to domestic flights on ANA with thru-checked baggage can speed up and simplify their baggage transfer. After collecting their baggage and clearing customs, they conveniently drop their baggage on the conveyor provided, thus bypassing the need to check it in once more.

Across its network, Star Alliance currently has ongoing co-location projects in Bangkok, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami and Paris.
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