New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) National carrier Air India Saturday said its induction date in the international airline association Star Alliance would be decided by the airline network at its executive board meet Sunday.
‘Star Alliance will decide upon Air India’s induction date tomorrow (Sunday) in their executive board meet,’ an Air India official told IANS.
The airline has completed all the pre-procedural steps like certain minimum joining requirements, which involve development and testing systems, and procedures to harmonise the product with other members.
‘Recently, the members of Star Alliance met senior Air India and civil aviation ministry officials to assess the progress made by the airline to join the network,’ the official said.
Earlier, the international airline association’s members described their talks with senior government officials on inducting the national carrier as progressive.
‘The final decision on Air India’s induction will be taken by Star Alliance’s board members,’ Star Alliance media relations director Markus Rudiger said.
The airline plans to join the Star Alliance network by July 31. Formed in 1997, Star Alliance is a consortium of 27 airlines, including Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Swiss, among other major airlines of the world.
Its members have over 4,000 aircraft and serve 181 countries.
Currently, Air India operates flights to 63 domestic destinations and has a network of 33 international destinations with a fleet of 127, which includes Airbus A-319, A-320, A-321, A-310, A-330, Boeing 737-800, B-777 and B-747 apart from ATR-42 and CRJ aircraft.
