Airlines seeking partnerships with Air India: CMD Campbell Wilson

Air India has garnered global attention with foreign airlines expressing rising interest in partnering with the full-service carrier, as they expect it to establish an extensive network of non-stop long-haul flights from India, said a senior company executive. “Many airlines are seeking partnerships because they see the benefit in connecting with the carrier from which most of the source traffic is coming. At present, 37m people are there in the diaspora, but we don’t serve them particularly well. That is going to change," Air India’s chairman and managing director Campbell Wilson said at the 67th Association of Asia-Pacific airlines. Air India operates direct international flights to 38 destinations including the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, South-east Asia, Far East Asia, Africa, Gulf, the Middle East and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). International departures for the airline have increased by 21% this year following its expansion to destinations like Copenhagen, Milan, Vienna, and London’s Gatwick Airport. While state-run Air India let the non-stop business be taken away by foreign carriers, the new Air India is preparing to get the direct business back, Wilson said. “Let us not forget the reason. Other airlines got so strong because Air India and Indian Airlines were weak. So, by providing a non-stop, quality, affordable, reliable, trustworthy, and non-stop safe service from India to key population centres pretty much anywhere in the world, we are pretty confident that we can drag a lot of that connecting business back to non-stop business," he said.<br/>