Well in completely unsurprising news Star Alliance and Air India have chosen to “suspend” talks about integration.
This is due to Air India failing to meet conditions deadline after deadline. Typically integration can take anything from a year to two years.
Air India have been at this for 4 years – and the gauntlet was thrown down by Jaan Albrecht (CEO, Star Alliance) to be ready by 31st July.
Air India apparently failed to meet the deadline.
It hasn’t been decided if Air India will attempt to join Star Alliance again – or choose to join a different alliance.
Existing agreements with individual airlines will be maintained such as code-shares, which could lead to Air India getting back into Star at a later date.
But not today.
It seems the message to Air India is a simple one – yet probably the hardest one to swallow – “Get your house in order before coming back”
