The Star Alliance has added two new member airlines. Swiss International Airlines became the 17th member on April 1 while South African Airlines joined yesterday, April 10, to become the 18th.

The alliance now serves 842 destinations in 152 countries with more than 15,500 daily flights. At a ceremony to mark the airline joining the alliance,

Swiss CEO Christoph Franz said: "For Swiss, joining Star Alliance is a major strategic milestone," said It creates a comprehensive network of air services and connections for our passengers that truly spans the globe. The co-branding of aircraft among Star Alliance members also helps to raise the awareness of the alliance and its benefits among our customers. And we are proud to carry the Star Alliance logo on our aircraft throughout our route network."

The addition of Swiss and South African Airways means that passengers on those airlines can now earn frequent flyer points and use the airline lounges of the other members of the alliance. The other members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, TAP Portugal, THAI, United, US Airways and VARIG Brazilian Airlines.