A-I, Lufthansa MoU to help the Maharaja

AIR-India and Lufthansa on Wednesday signed an agreement that would provide the Maharaja possibly its biggest entry into Europe while promising to transform the German carrier’s operations into India as the largest by any Western airliner. Sources said, the alliance will over the next couple of years result in 21 weekly flights connecting southern cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi with Europe.

On the other hand, it is calculated to increase Lufthansa’s total number of weekly flights to 30. This December itself, the Civil Aviation officials said, will see Air India commencing three weekly services from Bangalore to Frankfurt and then onward to Chicago. More services will be introduced when new aircraft are inducted into the Maharaja’s fleet. The agreement also entails that both partners will treat all services from southern airports as joint code share flights. This arrangement for services between South India and Europe will be almost on an equal basis with A-I operating 11 flights and Lufthansa bagging 10.