Air India has asked the ministry of civil aviation to adopt a tough stance against German airline Lufthansa for breaking their understanding over the national carrier’s entry into Star Alliance. Lufthansa is a founder member of Star Alliance and was the mentor airline for facilitating Air India’s entry.
The national carrier has requested the ministry facilitate compensation from Star Alliance as per various media reports. Air India says it spent $5-10 million to meet the minimum requirement for joining the alliance. It told the government an exit fee of $25 million had to be paid by an airline expelled from the alliance, so it feared Star Alliance might seek its expulsion.
Star Alliance on Monday announced, after a board meeting on Sunday, that it was “suspending” the national carrier’s integration into its network. It said Air India had not fulfilled the criteria it had agreed to. However, the airline claims it met all the 87 criteria for joining the alliance. Civil aviation ministry officials have also said they would be tough on Star Alliance.
As per a communication sent by Star Alliance to the ministry, there are several reasons for the suspension of the application viz
AI as a brand is not considered up-to-the-mark in terms of service quality. AI did not take up brand-makeover exercise.
» Read Complete News.....(You need to login first to read complete news). New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News