New chief of AI-Indian mega airline to be named

New Delhi, Apr 1: The government has registered a new company called National Aviation Company Ltd to amalgamate Air India (AI) and Indian along with their low-fare subsidiaries AI Express and Alliance Air.

The union cabinet had cleared the proposal to merge the two airlines a month ago.

Blending the names of domestic and international carriers, AI and Indian are planning to brand the merged entity as Air Indian, or maybe Indian Air. An official announcement on the decision is expected next week.

Officials say the new airline's logo could be a mix of AI's famed Maharaja and Indian's Ashok Chakra.

National Aviation Company Ltd will be headed by a chairman-cum-managing director and the board will have three directors. The names are expected to be announced this week.

The company will be divided into five divisions -- for repairing engines, maintenance and repair section, cargo division, ground handling, full service carrier, and a low cost division each headed by a CEO.

Indian went for a brand overhaul in 2006. Its mint fresh planes will now need to be repainted in new colours of the merged entity.

The two airlines, which once enjoyed a monopoly, have steadily lost market share to newer private players and have been criticised for their ageing fleets and bloated workforce. With the merger, India's civil aviation minister Praful Patel plans to take on international and more nimble-footed domestic carriers with a fleet of spanking new aircraft.

Indian, earlier known as Indian Airlines, last year ordered 43 new Airbus aircraft while AI signed up for 68 Boeing planes.

The new airline having about 112 aircraft with both international and domestic footprint will set fresh benchmarks for efficiency and reliability, thus benefiting civil aviation sector in the country -- especially the traveling public.

Indian has taken an in-principle decision to resolve a 10-year-old wage revision and career progress of all its employees.

However, since the salary revision was due since January 1997, the arrears will size up to a huge amount.

So the civil aviation ministry will be required to take a final decision on whether the arrears would be paid at one go or in instalments over a period of time.

Integration of human resources has been considered as a major hurdle in the merger of both national carriers. After the GoM directed the civil aviation ministry to speak to representatives of employees, the minister held several meetings with every employee's union.

The final situation on this issue is yet to emerge clearly.

UNI