Oct 27, 2009, 19:46 GMT
New York - Continental Airlines Tuesday switched its network membership to the Star Alliance that includes Germanys Deutsche Lufthansa AG and United Airlines.
Continental is leaving SkyTeam, where it dropped down to junior partner position after Delta Air Lines bought Northwest Airlines in 2008 and created the worlds largest carrier, the president of Continential, Jeff Smisek, said.
'We decided to upgrade our alliance to a first-class alliance,' Smisek was quoted as saying by Bloomberg financial news service. 'Star is the largest, oldest, most complete, most technologically advanced global alliance today.'
Continental said it expects to reap 100 million dollars in new revenue from joining Star Alliance. By joining, it has given the alliance a foothold in the New York market, through the Continental hub in Newark, New Jersey, and its extensive Latin American network.
The 11-member SkyTeam alliance, the world's second largest, includes AirFrance, KLM and Aeroflot.
The industrys third largest alliance is the 10-member OneWorld, which includes American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
The 25-member Star Alliance also includes Swiss Air, US Airways, Air Canada, Blue1 and Spanair.
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