Air India and Fiji’s flagship airline Fiji Airways have signed a codeshare agreement. The agreement will enable the passengers of both airlines to gain access to three domestic destinations and the South Pacific nation.
Effective from this month, the agreement will allow Fiji Airways to place FJ Flight code on Air India flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai travelling to Hong Kong and Singapore. Air India will place its code AI on Fiji Airways flights from Hong Kong and Singapore to Nadi, a city on Fiji’s main island.
The arrangement will allow the passengers of both airlines to connect from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to Fiji via Hong Kong or Singapore.
“We are happy to establish codeshare partnership with Fiji Airways, thereby expanding our network and offering wider connectivity to our passengers,” said Meenakshi Mallik, Commercial Director, Air India.
“We are delighted to add Air India to our growing list of international airline partners. With our direct services from Hong Kong and Singapore to Nadi, Indian visitors can travel to travel to Fiji from three cities. Equally, our guests from Fiji and the South Pacific will have many more options to connect to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai for leisure, business, and medical travel on Air India flights,” responded Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways Managing Director and chief executive.
Air India Privatization
Air India is currently in its process of privatization. Aviation consultancy firm the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has opined that there are possibilities for leading global carriers, mainly from the Gulf regions, to participate in the bidding of Air India along with some domestic conglomerates. If Air Indis is relieved from its working capital debt, which is around INR 30,000 crore, investors will be more interested in cash in on the opportunity.
“The current global and national economic environment, and geopolitical instability may have some impact on investor sentiment. However, the outlook for the performance of Indian carriers remains positive, especially in light of the suspension of Jet’s operations and the recent softening of oil prices,” a CAPA report ‘Divestment of Air India: Revisiting Key Success Factors’ stated.
