Praful to decide brand, logo of merged AI-Indian family

New Delhi: Key decisions related to the mega merger of Air India and Indian continue to hang in balance even as the government races against time to meet milestones set for the creation of India’s largest airline.
Headquarters of the merged entity, the brands to be used by it, logos for various segments of business and the selection of top management are significant issues that have to be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks, government sources said. The final word on these issues has been left to civil aviation minister Praful Patel, they added.
While the Air India building in Mumbai is considered the favourite for housing the headquarters of the merged entity, there is a demand for having the headquarters in Delhi since the merged entity would be a prestigious central PSU. In the case of brand and logo, continued use of the Air India Maharajah as mascot for the premium airline is under consideration. The low-cost services of the merged entity may use the Indian brand, it is understood.
The government has allowed the civil aviation ministry to select a a chairman & managing director (CMD) for the merged entity without having to go to the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). While AI CMD V Thulasidas and Indian CMD V Trivedi are among the obvious choices, the aviation ministry is also open to the idea of looking at talent from the larger pool of government and PSU managements.
19/03/07 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

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Categories: Air India Mar 2007, indian mar 2007