Tough negotiations come to a naught

In the end, the late night intense negotiations on a cold winter day in December 2007 at Beijing to gain Air India entry into Star Alliance, have come to a naught. On Monday, it was announced that member airlines have jointly concluded that the integration of AI into the alliance be suspended.

Officials connected with trying to get the Maharaja into the global airline alliance recall how the Air India team had several rounds of meeting with the Chief Executive Officers of leading global airlines, including Lufthansa, Air Canada and Singapore Airlines. In the end it was said that a phone call, early the following morning, to the Star Alliance team from a major European airline finally swung the deal in Air India's favour.

The meeting over, all the CEOs were ushered into the Great Hall for a meeting with the Chinese Premier after which it was time to get back home and for team Air India to work on joining the Alliance. It was estimated that the work for joining the Alliance could be completed within 12-18 months and AI would start reaping the benefits of the club soon thereafter. But that was not to happen.

“If Air India has not completed the formalities for joining the alliance, even 42 months after signing the contract, it does not deserve to be in an alliance. The airline had completed several formalities even before formal discussions were started. The merger process and joining the Alliance should have gone hand-in-hand. But we have been proved wrong,” sources said.

Joining the Alliance, it was estimated, would bring an annual 5 per cent increase in domestic and international passengers flown, while the completion of the merger process would have also provided a 5 per cent increase in passengers carried.

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