Indian airlines to merge operations from July 15

NEW DELHI: The state-owned airlines, international carrier Air India and domestic carrier Indian, are to merge operations from July 15, a civil aviation ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.

The two airlines will be run by a new company, the National Aviation Company of India Limited, the spokeswoman said, with the process of combining routes and schedules that has already started.

The total process of merging the companies is expected to take three to four years.

The aim of the merger is to create an airline capable of taking on fierce competition in the burgeoning deregulated Indian aviation market and in the international aviation market as well.

Seven new carriers have sprung up in the past four years in India's liberalised skies, once dominated by the state-run airlines, and another five have applied to take off.