Air France-KLM looks at Indian carriers for SkyTeam
Days after Star Alliance rejected AI's membership of alliance, Air France-KLM headed SkyTeam is scouting for alliance partners in India.
By Saurabh Sinha, TNN | Updated:
NEW DELHI: Days after Lufthansa-led Star Alliance rejected Air India's membership of the alliance, the Air France-KLM headed SkyTeam is scouting for alliance partners in India. While aviation ministry sources said they were in talks with SkyTeam for taking AI on board after the Star fiasco, the Air France-KLM combine said it is open for partnership with both full service and low-cost Indian carriers.
"We are in talks with many Indian carriers, including LCCs, for both code-share and entry into SkyTeam. We have a code-share with Brazilian Gol that has a very similar business model like Indi-Go . So LCCs are not going to be out of the ambit of talks in India," Air France commercial director Fahmi Mahjoub said. The aviation ministry, on its part, has made it clear that AI will have to be adjusted into any airline alliance that is looking for members in India.
While Star Alliance is the world's largest alliance, Sky-Team and British Airwaysled One World are next in hierarchy , considering numbers of flights. One World has already announced Kingfisher as a future member.
Interestingly , the common threat of Gulf carriers has led to frantic efforts for tie-ups between Indian carriers and the three big alliances (all of whom are led by European carriers). In the last five years, the Indian market has been opened completely to Gulf carriers, allowing them to carry people between India and rest of the world through their hubs in Gulf at rock bottom fares because of huge oil price and airport charge benefits they enjoy back home.Fighting to win back or retain this traffic, European carriers want to tie up with Indian carriers so that international and domestic network of the two can be married to have a steady flyer base.
"We fly to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. We used to fly to two more cities before. Having Indian partner/s will be a rough hub-and-spoke model for us as passengers would be able to transfer from any Indian cities to rest of the world through the three cities we fly to currently," Mahjoub said.
"We are in talks with many Indian carriers, including LCCs, for both code-share and entry into SkyTeam. We have a code-share with Brazilian Gol that has a very similar business model like Indi-Go . So LCCs are not going to be out of the ambit of talks in India," Air France commercial director Fahmi Mahjoub said. The aviation ministry, on its part, has made it clear that AI will have to be adjusted into any airline alliance that is looking for members in India.
While Star Alliance is the world's largest alliance, Sky-Team and British Airwaysled One World are next in hierarchy , considering numbers of flights. One World has already announced Kingfisher as a future member.
Interestingly , the common threat of Gulf carriers has led to frantic efforts for tie-ups between Indian carriers and the three big alliances (all of whom are led by European carriers). In the last five years, the Indian market has been opened completely to Gulf carriers, allowing them to carry people between India and rest of the world through their hubs in Gulf at rock bottom fares because of huge oil price and airport charge benefits they enjoy back home.Fighting to win back or retain this traffic, European carriers want to tie up with Indian carriers so that international and domestic network of the two can be married to have a steady flyer base.
"We fly to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. We used to fly to two more cities before. Having Indian partner/s will be a rough hub-and-spoke model for us as passengers would be able to transfer from any Indian cities to rest of the world through the three cities we fly to currently," Mahjoub said.
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