Flight attendants of Star Alliance member carriers pose at Incheon International Airport, during a ceremony celebrating collocation of their check-in counters in the western part of the airport, Thursday. / Courtesy of Asiana Airlines

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Star Alliance, of which Asiana Airlines is a member, has now exclusively occupied the western wing of Incheon International Airport.

The celebration ceremony took place Thursday, with dignitaries, including Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht, Asiana Airlines President Kang Joo-an, and representatives of the various alliance member carriers, participating.

The alliance calls the collocation at one terminal ``Move Under One Roof (MuoR),'' which enables its members to provide joint services and use facilities together.

The MuoR follows the opening of new facilities and rearrangement of check-in counters in June at the airport. Asiana Airlines and other Star Alliance members use the western parts of the terminal, called ``Star Check-in Zone,'' while Korean Air and other Sky Team members use the other parts.

The collocation of all the Star Alliance members leads to faster connections between flights, as well as faster check-in and baggage claims in the Star Check-in Zone and Common Baggage Service Facility.

In the case of Narita International Airport in Tokyo, which adopted MuoR in June 2006, transfer time between flights operated by Star Alliance members was almost halved _ the average transfer time between international flights was reduced to 45 minutes from the previous 110 minutes.

The alliance members can also save costs by sharing facilities such as lounges and kiosks, while passengers can enjoy joint frequent flyer mile programs.

Ten Star Alliance members using Incheon airport are: Asiana, Air Canada, Air China, All Nippon Airways, Lufthansa, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, United Airlines and Turkish Airways. They provide services from Incheon with 1,500 departures per week.

Kang of Asiana said, ``We will be able to cut costs by sharing Star Alliance facilities through MuoR as well as provide more convenient services to Star Alliance passengers. It will be an opportunity to upgrade our customer service.''

Incheon is the eighth airport to adopt MuoR, following Narita, Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Heathrow Airport in London, Miami International Airport in Miami, Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

A total of 21 carriers belong to Star Alliance. They fly to 975 cities in 162 countries, with 18,100 flights per day. They carry 460 million passengers per year.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr