Shanghai Air to quit Star Alliance in Oct -Xinhua

BEIJING, July 29 (Reuters) - Shanghai Airlines will leave Star Alliance at the end of October, after bigger rival China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) took it over for $1.3 billion last year, state media said on Thursday.

Shanghai-based China Eastern (0670.HK) joined SkyTeam earlier this year, a global airline alliance that includes China Southern Airlines (1055.HK)(600029.SS), China's largest carrier by fleet size.

"In order to maintain the consistency of the new China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines has decided to leave Star Alliance on Oct. 31, 2010," the official Xinhua news agency said, without giving a source.

Air China (601111.SS) (0753.HK) will become the only Chinese airline that is a member of Star Alliance once Shanghai Airlines pulls out. (Reporting by Michael Wei and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)