SIA is right to stay the course despite turbulence over Air India losses
The Indian airline presents huge challenges, but SIA is not sitting on its hands. And there is merit in playing the long game for strategic gains.
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Air India’s losses have raised questions as to the extent SIA is prepared to hold on to its stake in the Indian carrier.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Once you get past the shocker delivered by jet fuel prices, Singapore Airlines Group’s latest quarterly results deservedly revived the debate that’s raged for more than a year on the merits of holding on to its just-over-a-quarter stake in Air India.
The Indian carrier’s seemingly endless woes have only mounted over the period. In addition to a host of internal issues, it has been buffeted by several headwinds: airspace restrictions following the India-Pakistan war that’s forcing a long (and expensive) rerouting to reach Europe and North America, the crash of a Boeing Dreamliner at Ahmedabad that left 260 people dead, and the Iran war that’s raised jet fuel prices, with Indian carriers feeling the pain more because they tend to be not active hedgers.
