The race for joining global airline alliances just got hotter since Air India started floundering on its proposed tie-up with the world’s biggest aviation network, Star Alliance.
For the record, loss-making, state-owned Air India still has time till July 31 to hitch on to the Star network that boasts of 27 member airlines with a combined fleet strength of 4,023 aircraft, but has to meet several conditionalities before the deadline expires. With time running out, India’s biggest carrier by revenue, Jet Airways, is waiting in the wings, just in case…
Aviation trackers say Jet has two options open to it, with Kingfisher set to tie up with OneWorld, one of the three big global alliances. It could either join Star Alliance, which it is reportedly keen on, or hook up with Sky Team. While Star Alliance is the largest group, SkyTeam is relatively new. It has 13 airline members.
Technically, both Air India and Jet can join the Star network. Star Alliance has indicated that it would be more than glad to have more members from India, particularly if things do not work out with Air India. “For big markets like India and China, we can have more than one member from the same country,” Markus Rudiger, director, media relations, Star Alliance, told Financial Chronicle.
But the civil aviation ministry that remote controls the national flag carrier, is not too keen on two airlines from India joining the same network. So, should Air India manage to still pull it off with Star Alliance, Jet is likely to move over to Sky Team. Right now, it is waiting and watching. Why are global alliances important for you and me? They are so because, one, airlines offer a wider choice of airlines, services and destinations to passengers on a single ticket. Two, they allow us to swap our frequent flyer miles on the international network .
08/06/11 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com
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