The Air India Refut

The Article

Before you start reading my post, read the article above. Just a brief background, the Mint is an online newspaper which is a joint venture between The Hindustan Times and The Wall Street Journal. 

Couple of years back there was talk of Air India possibly joining Star Alliance in order to help the ailing carrier with passengers and access to different markets throughout the globe. Just recently before joining into the alliance, its entry was revoked by Lufthansa and other Star Alliance members. It was given 5 years with further extensions to comply with the Star Alliance integration but according to Star, it was unsuccessful. 

Air India has leaked out the emails that have gone between Star and itself and how they have now turned their attention to Jet Airways, the whole scenario is explained in the article. It makes an interesting read but there are certain things that just don't add up. 

Since the deal didn't go through, Air India's response was predictable. Rather than admitting to its own faults it has gone all out on blaming Star Alliance for the deal falling through. Because, as we all know, Air India is a shining beacon of meeting goals and requirements. 

I am no Air India apologist nor am I for Star Alliance. Untimely, I think, Star is a business, they would do whatever best suits them. For the Government of India to bend over backwards to allow all this to happen under their nose was not Star's fault. I am sure, India is big economy to handle itself. They didn't need to allow extra frequencies to and from Germany to India exclusively for Luftansa. They could have denied it all together. Now that Air India wasn't able to get it  together, now they blame Jet and Lufthansa. 

Again, how the GOI could have allowed this to happen i am not sure. Bypassing Air India (a government entity) and then allowing a go-ahead for Jet a private Indian airline. Frankly speaking, I doubt Jet's entry into Star Alliance would be beneficial as Singapore Airlines is already a founder member. This situation is very similar to the one where Air India put an arbitrary amount "owed" by Boeing due to the delay of its 787 aircraft delivery. Boeing had then made it very clear that the amounts, in case of a delay, were mentioned in the contract and that they are not liable to pay a penny more than that. Did no one read the contracts?

I wonder how long this airline would be run by the government. As i always say, there is so much potential for the airline, but due to the government interference, its been run aground. India is a country of more than a billion people, of which even if 30% have a disposable income or travel by air, AI is due to succeed. NRI's and POI's would prefer to fly their own airline only if it were more reliable and more accessible.