SkyTeam hopes to have Kingfisher on board in the latter half of the year

SkyTeam, a global alliance of airlines, said it hopes to announce the addition of an Indian partner later this year. SkyTeam officials have said that discussions with Indian full service provider, Kingfisher Airlines, are progressing and that these are expected to be concluded in autumn. Interestingly, this would also be the time when Kingfisher's merged partner, Deccan, would complete five years of domestic operations making it eligible for a license to commence international operations.

As the owner of erstwhile Air Deccan, Kingfisher hopes to utilise this license to launch international operations under its own brand. It has already contracted to purchase a large number of long-haul aircraft that put it in an ideal position to launch full scale international services.

SkyTeam is the second largest airline alliance in the world, after Star Alliance, and operates 16,409 daily flights to 841 destinations in 162 countries with its 11 member airlines.

Initially, SkyTeam, had invited state-owned Indian Airlines to join the alliance early last year. This failed to materialise owing to Indian's merger with Air India and the new combination's decision  to  opt for Star Alliance.

The other candidate, India's largest private carrier,  Jet Airways, is still to make up its mind about joining any alliance.