First AI-Indian flight post-merger on Aug 1

The merger of Air India and Indian will move from the boardroom to the skies on August 1, with the launch of first non-stop flight of the combined entity to the US.

Six regional jets, which were to be leased by the erstwhile Indian's subsidiary Alliance Air, would now be inducted into the merged full-service carrier.

These decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in New Delhi on Tuesday to review the progress made in the merger of Air India and Indian.

The first non-stop flight would be launched from Mumbai to New York using a latest Boeing 777-200 (long range) aircraft, which would be delivered in the last week of this month by the American manufacturer.

Through check-in services would be launched initially from Mumbai and Delhi from August 1 and implemented in Kolkata and Chennai airports from October 1 and later extended to other airports gradually, official sources said after the meeting.

Under this service, a passenger travelling from any part of India would have to check-in only once to travel abroad. Their baggage would be transferred automatically to the connecting Air India flight to the foreign destination.

Separate counters would be set up at these airports for this purpose.

The merged entity called National Airline Company Ltd, which has been registered by the Registrar of Companies, would operate its domestic and international services under two separate codes for at least one more year till the two public sector carriers fully synergise their entire network, the sources said.

In the meeting, Patel directed top officials of the carrier, including its chairman and managing director V Thulasidas and joint managing director Vishwapati Trivedi, that the new concept of a merged Air India should be marketed very strongly to generate awareness among the travelling public.

The new brand name, emblem and logo of the merged airline would be displayed at the airports, counters and offices of the airline. The first few airports would be those at Delhi, Mumbai and New York where the new sighs would be displayed from August 1, the sources said.

Patel also asked the officials to ensure a massive refurbishment programme for aircraft every ten years to keep the aircraft growing old in sync with the latest technologies and equipment, the sources said.

He also directed them to see that the flight operations were not made Mumbai-centric as the airport there had reached its saturation.

A detailed presentation was made in the meeting on the domestic network and fleet plan, besides plans for inducting additional leased aircraft to increase capacity. Before the merger, Air India had placed orders for a mix of 68 Boeing planes and the Indian for 43 Airbus aircraft, most of which would be used to replace the existing aged fleet.

Discussions were also held on a range of issues including the creation of six special business units, maintenance, repair and overhaul facility and fuel procurement synergies, the sources said.

The merged Air India would soon launch a new website presenting a unified face to the customers, they added.