Star Alliance welcomes newest member - LOT Polish Airlines

Star Alliance welcomes newest member - LOT Polish Airlines LOT Polish Airlines, officially joined Star Alliance yesterday, October 26. With the addition of LOT as its 15th member, Star Alliance further extends its worldwide network, particularly into Eastern Europe. LOT Polish Airlines can look back upon a history that started in 1929. The airline serves 12 domestic and 48 international destinations out of Warsaw with a fleet of 51 aircraft. Some 3.4 million passengers were carried in 2002, a five per cent increase on the previous year. LOT Polish Airlines has 4,355 employees. It was also recently voted by the readers of the prestigious British magazine Business Traveller as Best Central and Eastern European Airline. The Star Alliance network spans 680 airports in 127 countries. Its fleet of over 2000 aircraft makes almost 11,000 daily departures. This year Star Alliance airlines were expected to carry well over 300 million passengers. Star Alliance was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers global reach and a smooth travel experience. The members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Mexicana Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, Thai Airways International, United, and VARIG Brazilian Airlines. US Airways is scheduled to join the alliance in 2004. SAS CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/10/27/20031027BIT00460/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/10/27/20031027BIT00460/wkr0002.pdf