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Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi , March 14

THE 15-member strong global airline alliance, Star Alliance, could soon have a new member from the Indian subcontinent. Air India, which is weighing the option of joining a global airline alliance to expand its network and offer greater options to its passengers is said to be "leaning towards" the Star Alliance.

"With the environment around us becoming more competitive, there is a sense of urgency now. Besides, why should AI which has expanded in the past two years and been wooed by all the major airline alliances in the past settle for anything but the best," a senior AI official said when asked whether the airline was joining the Star Alliance. Officials, however, did say that joining the Star Alliance would provide the "best possible synergies" to AI.

Incidentally, AI recently entered into a strategic alliance with a leading member of the Alliance, the German airline Lufthansa to expand its services. But officials were quick to say that it would be wrong to equate the current presence of senior AI officials in Germany with any move to join the global alliance and refused to speculate on any time frame by when the airline could become a member of a global airline alliance.

There are a number of global airline alliances including OneWorld, Skyteam and Star Alliance. While the alliances have representation from airlines around the world including East Asia and the West Asia, there is little or no representation from airlines of the region including India.

The possible entry into the Star Alliance could provide AI with access to 772 airports in 133 countries. Besides, AI passengers will not only have access to 575 airport lounges but also the possibility of earning and redeeming frequent flyers miles or points on any member airline.

The global airline that are part of the Star Alliance include Air Canada, Air New Zealand, the Japanese airline ANA, the Korean airline Asiana Airlines, Austrian, the British airline bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Spanair, Thai Airways International, United, US Airways and VARIG.

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