The Hindu : Business : AI-IA merged entity to be known as Air India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
ePaper

Business

Business

AI-IA merged entity to be known as Air India

Staff Reporter

New company will have its registered office in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel on Tuesday announced that post Air India-Indian Airlines merger, the new entity will be known as "Air India", while "Maharaja" will be retained as its mascot. The merged entity, to be called the National Airline Company Ltd., would start functioning from July.

The new company will have its registered office in New Delhi, while its corporate office will be in Mumbai.

The new company's office for domestic operations as well as the strategic business units will be mostly based in Delhi, Mr. Patel said after unveiling the new livery and logo of the merged airline.

"Air India is a globally and nationally recognised brand name, besides the designated airline in international bilaterals, the `AI' code being available only to the existing name. Therefore, it has been decided that the merged entity would continue with the same name," he added.

The Civil Aviation Minister said delivery of new aircraft, including Boeing 777-200 and A 321, would begin from July. Air India would launch a direct non-stop flight from Mumbai to New York probably in August, followed by a non-stop Delhi-New York flight. The new company would order or lease 25 new aircraft by the end of this year. The initial public offer of the new airline was likely by 2008, Mr. Patel said.

The logo of the new airline is a red coloured flying swan with the `Konark Chakra' in orange, placed inside it. The flying swan had been morphed from Air India's characteristic logo, `The Centaur', whereas the `Konark Chakra' was reminiscent of Indian's logo, the Minister said. The new logo would feature prominently on the tail of the aircraft.

While the aircraft will be ivory in colour, the base will retain the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other will be the orange and red speed lines from front door to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one. The brand name `Air India' will run across the tail of the aircraft.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section