The Hindu Business Line : One full service, low-cost airline after merger: Patel

The Government is to have one full service airline and one low-cost airline to look after passenger needs after the merger of Air India and Indian is firmed up, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, has said.

"Globally airlines have one full service and one low-cost airline. This is the model that we will also follow here," the Minister said.

At present while Air India Express is the low-cost arm of Air India, Alliance Air, which is the subsidiary of Indian, operates on a cost competitive model.

Sources indicated that with issues regarding taxation and stamp duty having being resolved there should be no major hitch for the merger to go through. "Non controversial issues connected with the merger like what should be the name of the new entity and some human resources matters are yet to be taken up. These are issues that will be tackled by the consultants shortly. So there is no reason why the merger should not be completed by March 31 next year," officials said.

Induction after a decade

Meanwhile, Air India, which took delivery of the first of the 68 purchased aircraft, plans to hire at least 20 expat commanders. "We already have some expat commanders and will look to hire some more commanders. We will have to look abroad as otherwise we will have to pick pilots from existing domestic airline," the airline Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, said.

The aircraft that arrived here on Wednesday is the first purchased aircraft to join the fleet since the last purchased aircraft joined the fleet in 1996.

The induction of the new aircraft is to see Air India expand its global reach.

The airline is looking to launch non-stop flights between India and the US from summer next year with the new Boeing 777 aircraft that it will be inducting.

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