[FlightDeck]

Dette ble offentlig i går og SAS sendte følgende pressemelding:

SAS welcomes EVA Air as future Star Alliance member



Star Alliance, of which SAS is a founding member, announced today that its Chief
Executive Board (CEB) has unanimously accepted the membership application of
Tapei-based EVA Air. This decision underscores the Alliance's long-term strategy
of seeking network growth and providing access to new regions which show strong
economic potential and development.

"EVA Air is a very good fit for Star Alliance as the airline will add many new
routes to our global network, with a specific focus on the growing Far East
aviation market. This will increase the choice for our customers and is in line
with our mission of being the leading global airline alliance for the
international traveller," said Mark Schwab, CEO, Star Alliance.

Since its founding nearly 15 years ago, Star Alliance has progressively built
its presence in Asia/Pacific and will have eight member carriers based in this
region by mid-2013.

Through its future membership in Star Alliance, EVA Air will be able to offer
its customers access to a global network, along with seamless travel and status
recognition within the various member carrier frequent flyer programmes.

"After careful evaluation we concluded that Star Alliance offers the best match
for EVA Air. Our networks complement each other and we will expand the existing
Alliance flight options in the growing cross-straits market. We look forward to
significant synergy in both service enhancement and expansion of our customer
base. In addition, our partnership with Air China makes the Star Alliance
especially attractive to us," said James Jeng, Chairman, EVA Air.

The integration process will now begin, with the respective teams at EVA Air and
Star Alliance commencing the work which needs to be completed before a new
airline can join the Star Alliance network. Air China will be assisting in this
process as the mentor airline.

EVA Air's network of around 60 destinations will add Kaohsiung in Taiwan and
Surabaya in Indonesia as unique airports to the Star Alliance network. In
addition, Taiwan's geographic location adds to the quality of the Star Alliance
hubs in Asia, is it has the shortest average distance to all major cities in the
Asia-Pacific region. In total, the network of 30 airlines (the current 26 and
four future members) will offer more than 22,000 daily flights to 1,345
destinations in 191 countries.