Thai Smile Discontinued, Merged Into Thai Airways

Star Alliance needs to have a good look at their Connecting Partner model. Juneyao Air is the only airline left and there is rarely any possibility to book them on a single ticket with a full member.

Can think of a couple airlines that could be a good fit, such as KC, J2, maybe even HX. Though I agree that the concept has failed pretty considerably

Thai Airways International has been investigated by CAAT (Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand) for selling some of their economy class seats as business class on ex-Thai Smile A320s, just like European carriers (I don't know what happened afterwards though). This happened because of passenger complaints, including some social media posts.

So maybe we can change European carriers' afwul cost-saving strategy, but this is probably a delusional idea.

Singapore Air still has Scoot and Cathay still has Hong Kong Express. They folded in one discount brand, and just push low-yield traffic to the other discounter. As you mentioned Ben, I avoid them due to not earning miles in partner programs, unless it's significantly cheaper than the competitor.

For the uninitiated: KC = Air Astana, J2 = Azerbaijan Airlines. Since no Central Asian airline has ever joined an alliance — other than MIAT Mongolian muttering about Oneworld Connect (though I guess it’s too small for even that) — I think Air Astana, in particular, would be a very nice fit for the Star Alliance. All the more so since Star has never had a Russian member, and it would provide good coverage of the CIS and Siberia.

HX (Hong Kong Airlines) is highly unlikely, as it remains under the control of the HNA Group, none of whose airlines have expressed any willingness in joining a global alliance — indeed, HNA is its own Chinese alliance of sorts!

Goodness knows what the Star Alliance is up to these days. Launching the so-called Connecting Partner concept with only Juneyao and Thai Smile as members, the latter of which now no longer exists. Launching an ‘intermodal’ partnership with Deutsche Bahn. Launching a co-branded credit card with HSBC in Australia. And yet, when it comes to actually adding members, not a single airline has joined as a full member since Air India in 2014.

Look at Oneworld, picking up Alaska, Royal Air Maroc, Oman Air (coming this year) and soon Hawaiian after its merger with AS. SkyTeam bagged Virgin Atlantic, and will soon snatch SAS away from Star, the very alliance it founded. The only possible new Star airline is ITA Airways, should LH succeed in acquiring it — in which case it’s a one-for-one trade: give SAS and take ITA.

But the world’s oldest and largest alliance has gotten too complacent, and I wish it would add a couple of cool new members. Azul, Air Astana (as in my other comment below) and probably Gulf Air to cover the Middle Eastern gap all sound like good fits to me.

Hopefully other Star carriers like SQ follow by getting rid of Scoot or Air India with Air India Express etc

Seems like people confuse or something about their 'regional subsidiary' and 'low-cost subsidiary'. SIA and Scoot is definitely not a relation of Thai and Thai Smile. Scoot is just a low-cost airline of Singapore Airlines Group, and was not established just to serve routes that SIA don't serve (although they have their own routes but they share some destinations). CPA and HK Express is a bit different (since they acquired them from HNA Group) but not a big difference either.

And even if they exist to fly to the destinations out of the main carriers' coverage, it's still better than not having direct flights at all. I mean, Silkair and Cathay Dragon were still a full-service carrier, so the fact that SIA and CPA kept most of their flights mean that they're profitable and competitive enough to be served by the FSCs. Scoot and Cathay Dragon are LCCs, so nowadays, especially in Asia, are more sensitive and competitive in terms of price. Let' say, hypothetically, people flying btwn. Busan, South Korea to Hong Kong, a route which HK Express exclusively serve (no Korean carriers serve this route as of now), for travelling wouldn't be so happy to be forced to fly more pricey CPA or transfer at somewhere else. Scoot and HK Express have some routes that they exclusively serve, and there's reason why SIA and CPA don't serve that routes.

In my opinion, both SIA and CPA should keep Scoot and HK Express, as they offer cheaper flights, and it's still better than not having direct flights at all. But partnerships with SA carriers, just like what Eurowings does would be essential...

Star already has far too many members. They dont need anymore!