Global airline groups woo Indian carriers

Two global airline alliances, SkyTeam and OneWorld, are bullish on India and have started holding preliminary discussions with Indian carriers to attract them into their respective teams.
“We have held exploratory discussions with Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher about joining the alliance. Sooner than later, we will have an Indian airline joining the SkyTeam,” its chairman, Leo van Wijk, said.
Both van Wijk and his competitor, OneWorld managing partner John McCulloch, said India was a huge market and a “major target for us.” The SkyTeam chief said his alliance “has made it a priority to finalize discussions with Indian carriers and select a partner.”
However, McCulloch said the Indian aviation industry, where consolidation has already begun with the Jet-Sahara, Air India-Indian and Kingfisher-Air Deccan deals, would take “three to four years to stabilize. So any decision will have to be taken after that.”
The state-owned Air India has, however, already declared its intention of joining the third group, Star Alliance.
08/06/07 Amitabha Roychowdhury/PTI/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, General Aviation Jun 2007