New Delhi: In a subtle nudge to German carrier Lufthansa, Ajit Singh, the union minister of civil aviation said it will ask the foreign airline to adhere to its original plan of including Air India in the global airline grouping Star Alliance.
Star Alliance, after Air India pilots went on 58-day strike that ended in July was leaning towards accommodating Jet Airways as its Indian partner. Star Alliance is non-committal on its four-year old promise of inducting Air India into the alliance and has expressed interest for rival Jet Airways.
The government wants to talk to German carrier Lufthansa to adhere to the original roadmap by mentoring the national carrier into the airline club.
Civil Aviation minister told media that Lufthansa, which is the founding member of Star Alliance, was given a lot of benefits to ensure that Air India joins the grouping.
"I believe a lot of facilities were given to the airline (Lufthansa) so that it would mentor Air India to join Star Alliance. They were given a lot of flights, it was made almost open skies for them. Now we are going to talk to Lufthansa to adhere to the plan we had," Singh said.
According to Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, Star Alliance has so far not responded to his letter about his airline being as good as any other Indian carrier, written in late August.
09/10/12 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times
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Star Alliance, after Air India pilots went on 58-day strike that ended in July was leaning towards accommodating Jet Airways as its Indian partner. Star Alliance is non-committal on its four-year old promise of inducting Air India into the alliance and has expressed interest for rival Jet Airways.
The government wants to talk to German carrier Lufthansa to adhere to the original roadmap by mentoring the national carrier into the airline club.
Civil Aviation minister told media that Lufthansa, which is the founding member of Star Alliance, was given a lot of benefits to ensure that Air India joins the grouping.
"I believe a lot of facilities were given to the airline (Lufthansa) so that it would mentor Air India to join Star Alliance. They were given a lot of flights, it was made almost open skies for them. Now we are going to talk to Lufthansa to adhere to the plan we had," Singh said.
According to Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, Star Alliance has so far not responded to his letter about his airline being as good as any other Indian carrier, written in late August.
09/10/12 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times
