Business | Aviation
Air India in talks with Star Alliance to join group
Air India, the newly merged Indian national carrier, has began negotiating with Star Alliance to join the group, a senior official told Gulf News.
- By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor
- Published: 23:44 October 11, 2007
Dubai Air India, the newly merged Indian national carrier, has began negotiating with Star Alliance to join the group, a senior official told Gulf News.
It is mulling more firm orders for its future needs.
"The newly-merged airline has appointed a team to look into future fleet requirements and they are currently talking to both manufacturers," Jitender Bhargava, executive director of Air India's corporate communications, said.
"We have also started talks with Star Alliance for possible membership."
The company is in the process of establishing new routes and will then built on those in the coming years. "The current orderbook is good enough for now. However, we will need more in the coming years," he said.
"There are 330 aircraft currently in operation in India. In five years, it will jump to 1,000. This means we will have to order more to meet future demand.
"The current plans are to develop intercontinental routes from India to the US, via a common hub in Europe. We are looking at cities like Munich, Vienna and Copenhagen to offer those services, where travellers from all major cities could come and change aircraft to board flights to their destinations in the US."
Volumes
Air India carried 4.8 million passengers, while Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India, carried 7.86 million passengers, he said. "The Indian aviation industry is growing at 30 per cent year on year - one of the highest in the world."
The merger will be completed in 12 to 18 months, when flight codes of Air India and Indian Airlines will be unified and booking systems integrated, he said. "Then we will look into route rationalisation and network optimisation. We hope to expand our flights to the Gulf then," he said.
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