Avianca-Taca, Colombia’s national airline carrier, has joined Star Alliance, the world’s first and largest airline alliance, making international and domestic travel more accessible to customers, Radio Caracol reported Friday.
Fabio Villegas, president of Avianca-Taca, said the deal would provide customers with many benefits, highlighting that miles accumulated with the airline could now be used on any of the other 28 airlines in the Star Alliance.
“Starting today Avianca-Taca customers can redeem miles on any airline in the alliance. Starting today there are many existing trade and codesharing agreements,” said Villegas
Combined, the airlines in Star Alliance offer service to more than 1,400 destinations. With the codeshare agreement, whereby two airlines share the same flight, passengers can fly from Bogota or any city in the country, buying tickets directly with Avianca-Taca.
To join Star Alliance, Villegas said the company had to modernize their plane fleet and make other organizational changes to comply with the alliance’s international standards. Avianca-Taca formed in 2010 with the merger of two airlines, Colombia’s Avianca and El Salvador’s Taca Airlines.
Star Alliance members include Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines.
