Staying afloat on little over Rs30,000 crore bail-out package extended by the previous UPA regime, Air India is saddled with nearly Rs50,000 crore debt. Because if particularly it’s an airline (which takes over Air India), we don’t want the acquisition of one of our members becoming a back door entry into Star Alliance,” Goh said. Besides Air India, its members include Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, United, Air China, Air Canada, ANA, Swiss and South African Airways. “For us, as the alliance, Air India is important because India is a huge market and AI provides us with connectivity to the domestic market. They have announced Copenhagen, Stockholm, US and many other destinations,” said Goh, who had earlier played a key role in getting Air India into the Star Alliance fold.

Source: Mint June 14, 2017 09:33 UTC