Legal process for merger of Air India and Indian Airlines completed

25 August 2007

The ministry of corporate affairs, government of India has approved the application for merger of Air India and Indian Airlines into a new company called National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), earlier incorporated under the Companys Act 1956 on 30th March, 2007.

With the filing of this approval today with the Registrar of Companies, the legal process for merger of Air India Limited and Indian Airlines Limited in National Aviation Company of India Limited will stand completed. V Thulasidas takes over as the chairman and managing director and Vishwapati Trivedi as the joint managing director of the merged company.

The merged airline will fly under the brand of Air India both domestically and internationally. The new airline will have a combined fleet size of over 112 aircraft, comparable to the best airlines in the Asian region and will rank among the top 30 airlines in the world.

As part of its fleet acquisition programme of 111 aircraft, the new airline will be inducting 21 new aircraft (7 Boeing 777, 10 A-320 family aircraft and 4 Boeing 737-800) this year itself.

Air India launched its inaugural daily, non-stop Mumbai New York flight with the first Boeing 777 200 LR aircraft. This is the first non-stop India US flight by a domestic carrier. The new Boeing 777 aircraft was the first of the series to sport the new branding.

The merger of Air India and Indian will provide an integrated international and domestic footprint and allow them an entry into a global airline alliance.