Indirectly rejecting the offer to join Jet Airways-Kingfisher alliance, Air India today said the two private airlines had to come together as their backs have now been forced to the wall by the state-owned carrier.
Air India officials, who did not want to be named, said had Jet and Kingfisher been interested in tiding over the aviation industry crisis, they could have floated the idea and formed an alliance much earlier. "...Or this alliance could have been formed through the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA)," they added.
"They (Jet and Kingfisher) have done it now because their backs are forced to the wall," one of the officials said.
FIA is an umbrella body of Indian carriers and is currently headed by Air India Chairman and Managing Director Raghu Menon.
Dismissing suggestions that Jet-Kingfisher alliance would impact its market share, Menon said their coming together would only reduce competition.
"This will lead to a reduction in competition. There are a number of routes and there are a number of airlines. All the airlines will be evenly poised in the market," he said.
Asked if Jet and Kingfisher joining hands would affect Air India's market share, Menon said, "Not really. But we are trying to analyse this alliance." The Air India chief said nothing stopped airlines in the domestic sector from code sharing.
Asked about the global aviation meltdown, he said the impact was bad enough. "It has certainly affected corporate and leisure travellers. Some impact is also felt on the domestic travel market," he said. "The silver lining, however, is that the Aviation Turbine Fuel price is going southward and if it stabilises at around $80 a barrel, we will look at hedging in the international oil market very seriously," he added.
Describing the recent economic and aviation market crises as "cyclic events”, Menon said things would not remain the same. "The common refrain in the CEO summit here today is that Indian aviation industry will come out stronger, because we have learnt several lessons in this period. This will also lead to reduction of flab, particularly at the operations end," he added.
