NEW DELHI: In a subtle nudge to German carrier
Lufthansa, Ajit Singh, the union minister for civil aviation, said the ministry
would ask the foreign airline to adhere to its original plan of including Air
India in the global airline grouping Star Alliance.
After Air India pilots went on a 58-day strike that ended in July this year, Star Alliance 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 road map by mentoring the national carrier into the airline club.
After Air India pilots went on a 58-day strike that ended in July this year, Star Alliance 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 road map by mentoring the national carrier into the airline club.
The 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.
The minister said he is open to other Indian airlines, Jet Airways for that matter, to join Star Alliance, though not clarifying if he would let Naresh Goyal-owned Jet to join first.
"There is no problem in two carriers joining the global airline alliance from a single country," Singh said.
Air India had started the process of joining Star Alliance in 2008 and in 2011 the membership was put on hold due to the airline's financial and labour problems.
The airline has already paid 10 million euros (Rs 63 crore approximately) as joining fee to Star Alliance, whose membership was expected to boost Air India's revenues by giving it access to more traffic and destinations. Star Alliance has airlines like Lufthansa, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air China as members.
"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.
The minister said he is open to other Indian airlines, Jet Airways for that matter, to join Star Alliance, though not clarifying if he would let Naresh Goyal-owned Jet to join first.
"There is no problem in two carriers joining the global airline alliance from a single country," Singh said.
Air India had started the process of joining Star Alliance in 2008 and in 2011 the membership was put on hold due to the airline's financial and labour problems.
The airline has already paid 10 million euros (Rs 63 crore approximately) as joining fee to Star Alliance, whose membership was expected to boost Air India's revenues by giving it access to more traffic and destinations. Star Alliance has airlines like Lufthansa, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air China as members.
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