Air India to join Star Alliance

28 January, 2008:

In what may be termed an end to a long standing relationship, India’s national carrier Air India plans to cancel ties with counterparts in Europe.

Air India may terminate relations with Air France, KLM, Aeroflot, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental, and Royal Jordanian, once it joins Star Alliance. It has been reported that Air India will be terminating its code-sharing contract with these airlines by December 2009, as they are members of the competing Sky Team and One World. When Air India becomes part of Star Alliance, the largest airline consortium will have 17,000 daily flights to 897 destinations in 160 countries.

Air India has said that it is in the process of joining Star Alliance. When this happens Air India would get access to the largest aircraft fleet and 74 exclusive lounges at various international airports. Until now, Air India had been interacting with each airline individually, but in the future, it will integrate into the largest airline alliance in the world.

It is not going to be a win-win scenario for Air India, though. As Air India join 19 international airlines and three regional carriers in the Star Alliance team, it will also lose 21 international carriers, which include 11 member airlines from Sky Team and 10 member airlines from Oneworld. Incidentally, many of them are Air India’s existing code-sharing partners.

Air India seems to be more concerned about integrating its IT program, which concerns Air India’s merger with Indian Airlines. Both have common international codes and the process will be the precursor for joining Star Alliance.

Meanwhile, the integration process has already been been kicked off by officials from Air India as well as the Star Alliance consortium. The process is expected to be completed in the next 18 months.