subject: The Merger Of Indian Airlines And Air India Opens New Horizons For Indian Aviation Sector [print this page] For long decades after its independence, India was served by two state run aviation companies Air India which served the international market and Indian Airlines which served the domestic market. Even though the two were started with a lot of capital and initial performance was nothing short of remarkable, it was not long that the two companies started to feel the restrictions and stress of a socialistic shackled system. In the recent years, the opening of Indian aviation sector for private players meant that the competition was getting too much for the two.
The solution was found by the Indian government in the form of merger of both the entities and after a long series of protests and straggled court cases, the amalgamation took place on March 1, 2007. Following the amalgamation, a new entity known as the National Aviation Company of India Limited was formed. The company became registered on March 30, 2010. On May 14, 2007 the new company was given the Certificate to Commence Business. The headquarters of the new company are located on Airlines House, 113 Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi. The corporate office of the company is located at Mumbai.
Following the merger of the two companies, it was decided instead of creating a new identity, a combined identity should evolve. Hence the operational brand name of the company remains Air India and the Maharaja continues to reign as the mascot of the new airline. The logo was changed as the old centaur logo of Air India was decommissioned. Instead of the centaur, a red colored flying swan became the logo base with the Konark Chakra in orange color partially put inside it. The flying swan traces its origins from the centaur logo of Air India. The Konark Chakra is a part of the logo of the entity formerly known as Indian Airlines.
The new entity has seen a number of changes in its operating model. It is much less restricted by government control and is therefore much more agile and can churn better returns than the two different entities. Another special thing to be noted here is that since the two companies have come together, they have also been able to bring together their best practices and reduce the overall operational cost as well as administrative cost by a considerable margin. Finally the flag carrier of India is coming back to the days of its old glory.
