Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons; Goh Choon Phong, CEO of Singapore Airlines (SIA); and Carsten Spohr, chief executive officer of Lufthansa Group met recently in Mumbai to discuss ambitious expansion plans in India, according to reports The Times of India.
SIA owns a 25.1% stake in Air India and the German carrier plans to deepen the partnership with the Indian carrier, including codeshare expansion and potentially engineering and aviation training.
Spohr described The Times of India the collaboration plans that are being built. «India has not had a proper seat at the (global) aviation table in the past. Air India with SIA on one side looking east and Lufthansa Group looking west has potential for something big, something that can change Indian aviation,» Spohr said.
According to the Lufthansa Group CEO, the current high demand may allow the new Air India to «redefine its role» in the Indian market in the long term. Spohr points to the strong passenger traffic between India and the U.S. and Europe, much of which uses the Gulf carrier’s hubs.
India and its flag carrier should have a greater share of its own aviation market, one that will become the largest in the next few years, surpassing China.
Air India can become a major competitor in passenger traffic between Europe with Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific through its major hubs. Lufthansa Group has strong commercial ties with United Airlines and is in talks with its partner to include it in this partnership and enhance this potential new global alliance.
The German carrier is also looking for other commercial opportunities such as providing pilot and flight attendant training and engineering support through Lufthansa Technik.
The planned alliance hopes to become a Joint Venture creating more networking opportunities with an enhanced partnership. Air India is rebuilding its entire international network but needs key partners to strengthen its connectivity.
Carsten Spohr plans to travel again to Mumbai with his management team in March. Lufthansa Group, Air India and Singapore Airlines have agreed to hold talks.
Currently, the German carrier is the largest European group in India, with Lufthansa and SWISS offering 29,548 seats per week on 52 weekly flights. According to Cirium, the company offers services from Frankfurt (FRA), Munich (MUC) and Zurich (ZRH) to Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM), Bangalore (BLR) and Chennai (MAA).
The airline is in plans to increase its services between Europe and Bangalore (BLR) and Austrian’s potential return to India via its hub in Vienna (VIE). «We will see: India would be a wonderful addition to the Austrian network,» Spohr said.
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