AI sees red as Jet talks pricing with British peer

New Delhi: Naresh Goyal-controlled Jet Airways seems to have come in the way of a marketing alliance currently being negotiated between Air India and British Midland, thus creating uncertainty over the fate of the discussions between the two. In what can be seen as putting a spanner, Jet Airways has negotiated the pricing strategy with British Midland (BMI) for cross selling of seats on each other’s domestic network, a senior government official said.
The ball is, however, in the government’s court as the deal could fructify only after the approval from the civil aviation ministry. Having realised the damage the Jet alliance would create for its ongoing talks, Air India has given a representation to ministry officials against granting a nod to the Jet-BMI alliance. The state-owned carrier has been negotiating with BMI for quite some time for providing onward connectivity from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow in the UK.
“Jet Airways has sought the aviation ministry’s permission to code-share with BMI. The airline is believed to have negotiated pricing issues also with the British carrier,” the official told FE.
A senior Air India official said if the ministry allows Jet Airways to partner with BMI, it would adversely affect its strategy.
“The problem is that Jet has already a code-sharing agreement with Virgin Atlantic of the UK. The other major British carrier, British Airways, is part of OneWorld, the rival of Star Alliance which we are going to join. We had very consciously decided to tie-up with BMI,” the official said.
15/06/0 Nirbhay Kumar/Express India

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Categories: Air India - International Jun 2010, Foreign Jun 2010, Jet Airways Jun 2010, NACIL Jun 2010, New Jun 2010