OREANDA-NEWS. December 25, 2012. Star Alliance commends today’s announcement by Heathrow Airport to designate Terminal 2 as the new home for its member carriers serving one of the world’s most important international airports.

“We are delighted by today’s decision, which gives the green light for creating a new travel experience for our customers and allows our members airlines to operate an efficient hub in London,” said Mark Schwab, CEO Star Alliance. “After many years of intensive planning for a world leading alliance terminal together with Colin Matthew’s team at Heathrow, we can now shift into implementation mode.”

Star Alliance is the second largest alliance grouping at the UK’s most important trade and tourism gateway, offering more than 21 per cent of all available seat capacity from the airport.

Now the way is clear for the creation of a true alliance terminal, which will offer many innovative features. The latest technology as well as integrated facilities and aligned processes among the member carriers will contribute to significantly improve the traveller’s experience. Moreover, having all Star Alliance members collocated in Terminal 2 will allow the minimum connecting time between flights to be halved to just 45 minutes, thereby increasing the number of possible flight connections by 31 per cent.

Once the new Terminal 2 opens in 2014, the 23 Star Alliance member carriers operating at Heathrow will move in various stages from their current locations.