Air India closes in on European hub
EXCLUSIVE Neelam Mathews April 14, 2011 Time: 12:51AM IST Even as Air India comes closer to joining Star Alliance in July, it has identified four airports in Europe for its hub for onward flights to Europe and the U.S. The decision is expected in the April/May time frame, Arvind Jadhav, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, told Aerospace Diary. Jadhav said the carrier was viewing the most northernmost to the southernmost (airports for its hub) in Europe. "Air India needs a European hub as its direct North American routes are not paying, not least because they are using fuel to carry fuel,” an airline official says. Copenhagen , Dublin, Birmingham and Madrid are the contenders to Air India’s business, Aerospace Diary learns. Of these, only Copenhagen has a Star member –SAS Scandanavian Airlines - using the airport as its hub. Jadhav indicated he was clear that it would be economics that ruled his decision on the choice of the hub. “We need to hub over Europe with some ...