DUBAI, 24 November 2005 — Air-India (A-I) Chairman and Managing Director V. Thulasidas has affirmed that there is indeed a proposal for a merger between the national carrier and Indian Airlines (IA), the domestic airline, both owned by the government, and said that the proposed merged entity could be of great benefit to the country.
Thulasidas, who was here to attend the Dubai 2005 air show, also said that Air-India’s no-frills associate, Air-India-Express, is a success and is already breaking even, six months after launching low-cost flights between India and the Gulf. Now Air-India Express flies between the UAE and Kerala and Oman and Kerala. Plans are underfoot to expand the operations to other GCC countries but there is no plan to include Saudi Arabia because of technical reasons, Thulasidas told a “meet the press” organized by the Indian Media Forum (UAE). On proposals for an Air-India-Indian Airlines merger, Thusalidas said: “The end result of any such merger would be a very large airline, which would benefit a country of the size of India, possibly even larger than Emirate (the airline owned by the government of Dubai).” He did not elaborate on discussions, if any at all at this point in time, on the proposed merger.
Air-India Express recently began operations from Sharjah in the UAE to Calicut in Kerala and it is expected to operate more flights to various Indian destinations out of Sharjah in the near future. Air India Express will also fly to Trivandrum in Kerala soon.
“I have had discussions with authorities in Sharjah today and we realize the importance of additional services from here. We have specific plans in place which we hope to implement shortly,” he said.
Air-India is working on fleet expansion and will soon a contract with Boeing for 68 aircraft worth approximately $7.5 billion.
