This news is for now good news in Indian Aviation. I can understand Bhatia's angst about the whole deal as any other normal businessman would. But it also throws the Air Asia project in a corner. Will it start ? And if it does how long with it survive in the difficult and competitive environment in India ?
For the long term , this venture will change the face of Indian aviation if it does come through.Because I am sure there will be many in the industry, especially Mr. "You Know Who" will be working 24 hours a day with numerous trips to Delhi to try and thwart this project. But then it is India's name at stake here and he might just lose for once this time around.
SIA will in the next 6 years ( after it starts international operations ) be the biggest player in the Indian market for international traffic. They command most of the east bound traffic from India and when TATA SIA does fly international it will start capturing the west bound traffic which will be a body blow for Etihad , Emirates and Qatar. Not to mention it will further feed it's Singapore hub and possibly more direct eastern routes from India.
This would mean the eventualy closure of Air India , as the government will no longer have the money to support. The closure of Air Costa and severe reduction in expansion plans for Indigo and Jet Airways and also a fight for survival of Spice Jet.
Not to mention , Dr.Mallya will be talking his usual nonsense from Bangalore while he and son Sid fly their matchbox A 380 in UB city and Capt.Gopinath dream of starting another airline will be another pipe dream of his.
With Air Asia , fatboy Tony will be around for a few years , close down and blame everyone around on why he shut down. Wonderkid Mittu will be back in Singapore modelling , that is if he is still wanted there while the rest of the crowd will continue their move from one airline to the next.
And I will sit here and gloat when all this comes to pass.
By the way , what do you get when you merge Jet and Etihad....Jihad.
And that's what this is going to be , a war so bloody in the Indian skies that you will see a lot of closures and job losses.
