After months of prevarication and rumours, the national carrier Air India is finally going to join Star Alliance.
Air India's acceptance into the club was confirmed at a board meeting in Beijing in December. "The agreement signed with Air India enables Star Alliance to become the first alliance to include an Indian airline, which will offer our passengers more advantages when travelling to, within or from India in the future," said Glenn Tilton, Chairman and CEO of United Airlines, at the board meeting. Air India has become the object of much interest since its merger with Indian Airlines at the end of the summer, which finally gives it very broad access to the Indian domestic network, one of the most dynamic in the world.
The airline has a fleet of 115 aircraft and carried more than twelve million passengers in 2006, including 4.7 million for Air India alone. Egypt Air and Turkish Airlines are also due to join the alliance shortly.
