When discussing airline strategy in the 21st century, the first reflection that comes to the mind is probably alliance cooperation and membership as a relatively new phenomenon that arose out of significant changes and challenges in aviation industry. The modern, globalized economy, largely relying on the opportunities which are developing a network of flights so it is practically possible in one day connect any two points on the globe. IATA reported for the year 2009, that the three strategic branded alliances, Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and oneworld, accounted for over 69 percent of realized revenue passenger kilometers in scheduled traffic. Star Alliance, as a biggest airline group was founded in 1997 and now has a total of 27 airline members. Croatia Airlines joined Star Alliance family by the end of 2004, after reaching wide range of operational, maintenance, technological, IT, customer service, quality and regulatory minimum requirement list. From the beginning of the year 2010 Croatia Airlines become full Star Alliance member, as an only relatively small non EU carrier. Driving motivation for the paper is connected with intention to evaluate what are the benefits and threats of membership for Croatia Airlines, compared to other alliances