The Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance assembled in Shanghai approved the addition of LOT Polish Airlines to its membership. Apart from Polandå‘s national carrier the alliance will soon be joined by Korean Asiana airline and Spanair of Spain.

At the semi-annual CEB meting in Shanghai executives of Star Alliance airlines decided on expanding this biggest alliance of air carries by three new airlines. Among the invited airlines is LOT Polish Airlines .LOT’s candidature was accepted unanimously. The exclusive alliance will be also joined by Asiana and Spanair. No exact date of the three airlines joining was given. It is expected, however, that it will be concluded following a transition period of between 6 -12 months This time will be devoted to carriers adapting to procedures and standards of the alliance.

At a press conference, during which the fact of accepting the Polish national carrier enjoyed interest of the world media, Jan Litwinski -President & CEO of LOT Polish Airlines said: “The entire company is extremely proud of the fact of our membership application acceptance by the Star Alliance which has at its disposal a truly global network of connections. I am convinced that the trump cards of LOT will bring benefits not only to all members of the alliance but also all its passengers. Our alliance membership will bring Poland closer to the world and the world closer to Poland”.

In its statement the Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance expressed its satisfaction with the fact of inviting tree new airlines to the grouping. “New members will bring with them their strength and high quality of services, increasing the global range of the alliance, and in this way offering passengers a better product. The joining of the alliance by Asiana, LOT Polish Airlines and Spanair is a successive, important step in the expansion of Star Alliance, as the biggest alliance of airlines in the world” - said the statement.

Star Alliance was established in May 1977, as the first truly global airline alliance The member airlines are: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways - ANA, Austrian Airlines, British Midland, Lauda Air, Lufthansa German Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International, Tyrolean Airways, United Airlines i VARIG Brazilian Airlines. The Star Allianmce network serves 729 airports in 124 countries.

LOT Polish Airlines - one of the oldest airlines in the world - was established January 1,1929. In the year 2001 LOT carried 3.2 million passengers and can boast successes in its rivalry with other airlines in the field of state-of-the-art equipment, convenient network and quality of its service. The current scheduled flights network of LOT embraces 49 cities in Europe and world-wide, as well as 12 towns in Poland. The LOT fleet, being one of the youngest in the world is made up of 51 aircraft: 5 Boeing 767s, 19 Boeing 737s, 8 ATR-72s, 5 ATR-42s and 14 Embraer EJR-145 regional jets.

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