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Air India formally joined the Star Alliance group of airlines on July 11.
The induction of the alliance’s 27th member airline adds 40 destinations and more than 400 daily flights to the alliance network.
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“This is an important day for us,” Star Alliance chief executive Mark Schwab said in a statement. “We have said for many years that we needed a strong home carrier in the Indian market and by welcoming Air India to our Star Alliance family, we have achieved this goal. We know that the ‘new’ Air India is looking forward to providing the Star Alliance customer benefits to many more travellers.”
Added Rohit Nandan, Air India chairman and managing director: “Air India is proud to be a member of this prestigious airline alliance. From today, we open up a completely different world for our passengers, who can now travel to over 1,300 destinations right across the network and enjoy world-class service, better connectivity and seamless travel wherever they go.”
Star Alliance now boasts a network of 1,316 destinations in 192 countries and more than 18,500 daily flights from its member airlines.
Richard
says:My wife and I recently chose Air India to fly MEL-FRA return, as they were then the only airline (Royal Brunei has since joined the club) to operate the Dreamliner from Australia to Europe. We found the airline and the aircraft excellent – only pain is that to overnight in Delhi as we did both directions (much cheaper option to arrive refreshed than flying Business) Australians must acquire a tourist visa (just over $AUD80 each). Perhaps this and the lack of promotion of AI in Australia (friends said “you’re flying who?!”) resulted in plenty of spare seats on some sectors.
Legroom etc in the Economy cabin was adequate, but cannot believe that Jetstar packs 79 more passengers into their 787-8s than Air India, and like many others, why oh why has Qantas passed these premium long haul aircraft over to their LCC Jetstar?
Raymond
says:I may be wrong, but the most likely rationale I can think of for Jetstar taking the 787’s is due to the fact that because they are highly efficient they are able to help keep prices down, obviously of great benefit to a LCC.