Why Etihad Airways may (or may) not join Star Alliance

Could Etihad Airways join Star Alliance? It’s a oft-speculated scenario which would see the Gulf carrier become a member of the world’s largest and mightiest airline alliance.

It would be a major coup for Star Alliance, which lacks any member in the greater and fast-growing Middle East region.

By comparison, Oneworld has Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and soon Oman Air on its books, while Saudia and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines are aligned to SkyTeam.

Globe-striding colossus Emirates has steadfastly refused to join an alliance, and arguably has no need of one; newcomer Riyadh Air also says it won’t go down the well-troden alliance path.

So where does Etihad Airways stand in the alliance stakes?

CEO Antonoaldo Neves says the airline is “open for that, but it needs to make sense.”

“We tend to prioritise JVs (joint ventures) over alliances because theyre more in-depth partnerships,” Neves told Executive Traveller on the sidelines of the launch of the airline’s Airbus A321LR business class.

Etihad already has an extensive network of over 30 partner airlines – including Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Malaysia Airlines, China Southern, Garuda Indonesia and JetBlue – and this long-standing preference for bespoke alliances appeals strongly to Neves.

“Any time I can go and I do a joint venture, I prefer to devote my energy (there)... this is not to say that we’re not open for alliances, were open, but JVs are the priority.”

However, Etihad’s long-standing partnership with Virgin Australia will end on 1 June 2025 as a result of Qatar Airways’ 25% investment in Virgin, which also sees Qatar Airways become Virgin’s “exclusive interline, codeshare and loyalty partner” for flights to, from and within “the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.”

Etihad says the decision “reflects a divergence in the strategic direction of the respective airlines.”

“With Virgin, we did not fit anymore,” Neves said. “Our network strategy partnership is about feeding the network, right? If it does not fit, it can be a distraction.”