Tl;dr – The airline’s ambitions come on the heels of its 2024 2024 international route expansion.
Juneyao Air, a Shanghai-based airline primarily flying within Asia, with a focus on destinations in China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, has its sights set on something larger. Though the airline became a Star Alliance ‘Connecting Partner‘ (similar to oneworld’s connect program), Juneyao is hoping to become a full-fledged Star Alliance member in the next few years.
This is not entirely a surprise as Juneyao has, in the last year, significantly expanded its international route offering. The airline opened up service to five European cities – Athens, Brussels, Helsinki, Manchester, and Milan – on a Boeing 787-9. In addition, in late 2024, Juneyao launched flights to Oceania, targeting Melbourne and Sydney as its first destinations.
I can see the strategy here, and there’s certainly promise, though joining an alliance doesn’t come without its hurdles – in particular, managing relationships. First, let’s talk about the promising. Juneyao Air knows how to do business, as the airline already has several codeshare agreements with the likes of Aegean Airlines, Air China, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, EVA Air, Finnair, Shenzhen Airlines, as well as an interairline agreement with Air Canada.
Additionally, the Juneyao Air fleet is a growing one. With a total of 103 aircraft – most of which are narrow-body Airbus A320s – Juneyao took delivery of 10 Boeing 787s (the first came in 2018), which are all in operation.
And then there’s the competitive standpoint. No one is saying Juneyao is on the same level as Cathay Pacific, but strategically, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are right next to one another. Star Alliance would essentially be attempting to stake a slightly bigger claim to business in that market, more than it already has through an existing member airline (more on that below).
So where could things get prickly?
Keeping fellow member airlines happy. Two current Star Alliance members – EVA Air and Shenzhen Airlines, despite already being partners with Juneyao Air – may not be as quick to welcome a fully integrated Juneyao Air into the club. Shenzhen Airlines, with a fleet twice as large as Juneyao’s, operates a very similar business model, spending the lion’s share of its resources ferrying passengers from the South China Sea area around Asia. Given the significant overlap and likely more competition for partnership within the alliance, I could see there being at least some pushback. And then there’s EVA Air, everyone’s favorite legacy Taiwanese carrier (have to save space for the Starlux stans). Though Taipei and Hong Kong are different footprints, given that Juneyao has been exploring more and more routes to popular cities in Europe – many of which EVA Air currently services as passengers’ ‘go-to’ connection in Asia – I could similarly see things getting a bit hairy.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting development and one to keep our eyes on. I’ll keep you all abreast of updates on this front, and in the meantime, perhaps I’ll try out Juneyao’s lay flat long-haul service for a review!
