Air India to have code share agreements with most Star Alliance members by March 2015

The first-ever Star Alliance Chief Executive Board (CEB) meeting was held in India recently. Addressing the media, Rohit Nandan, CMD, Air India said, “We are looking at closer interaction with member airlines and have signed a code share agreement with Air Canada besides signing MOUs with Avianca and EVA Air recently. By March we aim at having code share agreements with most Star Alliance member airlines.” He stressed upon the fact that Air India has been vastly improving its performance parameters in all the areas by constantly upgrading its service standards in every area of its operation.

Air India has witnessed an increase of 33 per cent in the number of passengers transferring between Air India and other Star Alliance member carriers, mainly through Delhi or Mumbai but also at other airports such as London or Newark. Frequent Flyers are also taking advantage of the Alliance benefits, with over 80,000 having earned miles while flying on Air India since July and more than 20,000 Air India Flying Returns FFP members having miles credited for flights on other Star Alliance member carriers. With its 99-strong fleet, a mix of B787 Dreamliners, B777s, A330s and the A320 family, it is one of the youngest airlines in the world.

Air India introduced its mobile application on October 21, 2014 along with the launch of its Twitter handle (@airindiain) in the micro-blogging social media site. This is over and above the Facebook account that is popular with flyers. Air India sees further opportunities to increase transfer traffic in Delhi and Mumbai and is working with Star Alliance, the member carriers and the airport operators to provide more connecting flights and ease the transfer process at the subcontinent’s main hubs.

ETW Staff – Mumbai