Flocking Together

AD times can make strange bedfellows of those who cannot see eye to eye otherwise. The Kingfisher-Jet alliance struck recently is an apt example. As the aviation industry in India bleeds and is estimated to close this financial year with cumulative losses of about Rs 8,000-9,000 crore (close to $2 billion) double the amount last year, alliances of this kind have become a necessity today.

“It (airline alliance) is nothing uncommon abroad,” says M Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount Airways, a regional carrier that operates flights mainly in the south of India. “Alliances have been around for some time in the international market.”

Star Alliance, One world and SkyTeam, for instance, have been competing with each other globally over the last decade or so. The objective of these alliances is to provide a common pool of services to their members such as the use of common passenger terminals at airports, linking frequent flyer programmes and providing flights across member carriers.

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http://epaper.financialexpress.com/FE/FE/2008/10/30/index.shtml