On Sunday, September 1, 2024, founding member SAS Scandinavian Airlines will leave the Star Alliance and officially join the SkyTeam alliance. This move comes due to the airline's financial difficulties and the associated participation of Air France/KLM in SAS.
Due to the airline's financial problems and the resulting new distribution of company shares, it was announced in October 2023 that Air France/KLM would receive a 19.9% stake in SAS. This resulted in the original founding member of the Star Alliance leaving the airline alliance and moving to the SkyTeam alliance of Air France/KLM. This change will now take place on September 1, 2024. From this point on, Miles & More customers will no longer be able to collect points and miles on SAS flights. Members of the SAS EuroBonus frequent flyer program will lose their status with the Star Alliance and automatically receive the equivalent status with SkyTeam, which, in addition to Air France/KLM, also includes airlines such as Delta Air Lines, ITA Airways, China Airlines and Korean Air.
With this change, the Star Alliance is losing an important partner at its side, but a new entry into the aviation alliance is already emerging. Due to Deutsche Lufthansa's stake in ITA Airways, the latter is likely to leave SkyTeam and join the Star Alliance in the coming months or years.