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New York October 28, 2009 – Continental Airlines and ANA have signed an Alliance Agreement allowing both carriers to strengthen cooperation just after Continental’s joining the Star Alliance on October 27, 2009.

Mark Erwin, Senior Vice President – Corporate Development and Alliances of Continental, and Keisuke Okada, Executive Vice President – Alliances and International Affairs of ANA, met yesterday in New York to sign the Alliance Agreement, extending cooperation across a variety of areas including code sharing, frequent flyer programs, and lounge access.

Continental joined Star Alliance on October 27, 2009 as the 25th member. The customers of both airlines will now be able to accrue and redeem mileage on any route operated by either carrier, and the top-tier frequent flyer customers (Star Alliance Gold members) will also have complete access to the lounges of both carriers, as well as other Star Alliance benefits.

In addition to the Star Alliance benefits, Continental and ANA plan to implement code share arrangements starting in 2010, subject to necessary government approvals. With code share arrangements in place, both airlines plan to offer greater convenience to mutual customers traveling between Asia and the Americas.

“Continental Airlines is honored to become an alliance partner with ANA, an airline that has a worldwide reputation for high quality customer service,” said Larry Kellner, Chairman and CEO of Continental. “We will cooperate with ANA on code sharing, frequent flyer reciprocity, and airport lounge access, and look forward to providing customers with more flight options and convenient services on global itineraries.”

“ANA is delighted to welcome Continental Airlines as the newest Star Alliance member and establish this partnership with them,” said Shinichiro Ito, President and CEO of ANA. “Continental Airlines’ network will offer more travel options to our customers especially in Micronesia, the U.S. domestic and Latin America. Both customers will also enjoy our collective network which will be enhanced more through code share which will start next year,” he added.

Continental Airlines is the world’s fifth largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,400 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 130 domestic and 132 international destinations. Continental is a member of Star Alliance, which provides access to more than 900 additional points via 24 other member airlines. With more than 41,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with its regional partners, carries approximately 63 million passengers per year.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is Japan’s largest domestic carrier and the tenth largest airline in the world by passenger load, according to IATA rankings, carrying almost 50 million passengers every year to 52 destinations in Japan and 26 cities throughout Asia, Europe and the US on its fleet of 214 aircrafts. ANA has won awards in all categories for its product and services and was voted Airlines of the Year for 2007 by Air Transport World Magazines. ANA joined the Star Alliance in 1999 and will celebrate its 10th year Star Alliance membership.

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NEW YORK CITY, USA – October 27, 2009 – The CEOs of the Star Alliance member carriers today welcomed the alliance’s 25th member: Continental Airlines. Continental’s joining Star Alliance will further enhance the alliance’s three main customer benefits: global reach, worldwide recognition and seamless travel. Continental’s membership follows last year’s announcement of a strategic partnership between Continental and United Airlines. Experts from both airlines and Star Alliance have been working together over the last 18 months in order to ensure the first successful transition of a major airline from one global alliance to another.

“Bringing Continental Airlines into Star Alliance has been a truly unique experience. This is the first time an airline has moved directly from one alliance to another and I would like to thank all those involved in ensuring a smooth switch,” said Jaan Albrecht, CEO Star Alliance. “Our travelers can now begin to appreciate the advantages Continental brings to the Star Alliance network, while Continental’s customers now enjoy enhanced alliance benefits.”

“Continental’s transition to Star Alliance is one of the most important strategic moves we have accomplished in my career at Continental,” said Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner. “Our membership in Star Alliance positions us to deliver a broader network to our customers, and to achieve better business results and a stronger future for my co-workers, our customers and communities as a result of the benefits from participating in the world’s largest airline alliance.”

“Continental’s joining makes the Star Alliance network even more extensive, offering our customers the broadest global access and greatest choice of service,” said Glenn Tilton, chairman and CEO of United Airlines. “We welcome our partner, Continental, which brings tremendous value to our customers, our employees and the communities we serve.”

Global Reach
Due to the limited overlap between Continental’s and Star Alliance’s networks, Star Alliance customers now have a choice of 19,500 daily flights serving some 1,071 airports in 171 countries. The main network enhancements are taking place in North America, to and from Latin America, as well as across the North Atlantic and the Pacific.

In North America, Continental adds its three hubs – New York/Newark, Houston and Cleveland – to the network, providing more choice to Star Alliance customers. Continental’s extensive Latin America network will increase travel options for Star customers to Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Across the North Atlantic, Continental will also add choice for Star Alliance travelers, especially on the very important New York to London market. Options in the Pacific region are enhanced by Continental’s trans-Pacific flights to mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan, and by Continental Micronesia flights centered on Guam.

In addition to the network benefits, Continental flights can now be used to create itineraries for the Star Alliance Round the World fare as well as for the North American Airpass. Moreover, Continental will sell all 13 Star Alliance fare products and as well as participate in the Star Alliance Conventions Plus product.

Worldwide Recognition
As part of its Star Alliance membership, Continental OnePass members will now be able to earn and redeem miles on all other Star Alliance member carriers. OnePass Gold and Platinum Elite members automatically have Star Alliance Gold Status, and will receive benefits such as access to more than 954 lounges, extra-baggage allowance, priority baggage delivery, dedicated check-in counters and priority waitlist (reservation) and airport stand-by. OnePass Silver Elite have automatic Star Alliance Silver Status, entitling them to priority waitlist (reservation) and airport stand-by.
Participants in any of the existing Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Programmes can now earn and redeem miles on Continental. Moreover, OnePass members will be able to use their miles as part of Star Alliance Upgrade Awards for a one cabin upgrade when travelling on participating* Star Alliance member carriers.

Seamless travel
The Star Alliance network aims to provide fast and convenient connections for customers needing to transfer between flights of different Star Alliance member carriers. Effective immediately, through check-in from the originating airport is available for any itinerary involving a Continental flight in conjunction with another Star Alliance flight. In addition, all Star Alliance Connection Centres will now also encompass all flights operated by Continental. These special behind the scene centres look after passengers and baggage transferring between Star Alliance member carriers, in case of flight irregularities. These centres are currently in operation at selected airports across the network like, Frankfurt, Munich, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo-Narita and Bangkok. Moreover, plans are already underway to co-locate member carriers in the same airport area or terminal at numerous destinations served by Continental. By the end of this year Continental will have physically moved airport operations at 11 airports around the world. For instance, on October 27, Continental moves to Terminal 1 at Frankfurt and on November 1, to the South Wing of Terminal 1 at Tokyo/Narita. Other airports where co-location moves have been made include: Beijing, Chicago, Honolulu and Shanghai.

Have a press release and would like us to publish it? TokyoTomo welcomes your submissions. If you would like to submit your new product, service or other industrial news for review by our editors, please write to pr@tokyotomo.com TokyoTomo does not necessarily guarantee coverage of every new product or release however as long as it is relevant to travel in Japan, we will try to include them.