National carrier Air China and Shanghai Airlines announced over the weekend they will officially join the Star Alliance group of airlines in a month's time.

Their membership in an international airline network follows China Southern Airlines', which is scheduled to join SkyTeam tomorrow.

The latest move is seen by industry players as laying the foundation for the country to break into the ranks of large civil aviation players.

"Both the hardware and software of China's civil aviation industry will be upgraded to a new level," said Lou Yongfeng, the managing director of international affairs and cooperation with Air China, over the weekend.

"Travelers who come to see the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will also benefit from the improvement," he said.

Lou said Air China will have to meet 57 standards set by the Star Alliance to ensure the same level of stellar service, which in turn compels both the airline and local airports to invest heavily in infrastructure, upgrade and strengthen staff training.

Thirty domestic airports have so far been upgraded as a result.

"They will all install an advanced luggage recognition and search system, which can help locate lost luggage across the world in a short period of time," Lou added as one example.

Airports will also have standardized luggage tags with bar codes to replace manual scanning.

The 30 airports upgraded were selected based on their annual passenger throughput and cover almost all provincial capitals.

Lou said two more batches of airports are slated for renovation, but gave no further details.

The country's civil aviation industry has seen rapid development in recent years but service and management challenges continue to plague officials aiming for a world-class industry.