Wednesday October 21, 02:16 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Air India, Indian Airlines call centres set to merge

By Surabhi Agarwal
Even as Air India s demand for equity infusion of Rs 5,000 crore is expected to be considered by a group of ministers on Wednesday, along with its financial restructuring plan, the state-owned carrier has inched a step closer towards integration of the IT platforms of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines. After being embroiled in legal battles, the call centre operations of Air India and Indian Airlines will finally be serviced by InterGlobe Technologies (IGT), which was awarded the contract for the common call centre in January this year. IGT is part of InterGlobe Enterprises, which also owns IndiGo Airlines. Transition of the business from the company which was earlier servicing Indian Airlines is complete now and call centre operations of both Air India and Indian Airlines will be merged, said a source. An Air India spokesperson also confirmed the development. Soon after the announcement of the contract for the merger of call centres, Omnia BPO, which is part of the BK Modi-owned Spice Group, had contested the decision in court. Omnia was servicing Indian Airlines before the contract for the merged call centres was given out. In a recent ruling, the Allahabad High Court has passed a judgment in favour of InterGlobe Technologies. Sources said Omnia is unlikely to pursue the issue further. The contract involves 1,000 employees and revenues of around Rs 25 crore a year. The merger of the call centres of the two entities is pertinent for the airline, which has been trying to integrate its reservation system ever since the merger of the airlines took place two year back. Having a common call centre for both airlines was critical, as after the merger of IT platforms, call centres cannot be serviced by different agencies. Currently, Air India operates on the 098 code, while Indian Airlines operates on the 058 code. Both the airlines were supposed to move to common code 098 post the merger. The airline had earlier awarded the contract for the reservation platform to global technology major EDS, but scrapped it earlier this year. Air India has now come out with a fresh tender for the project. FE earlier reported that global travel distribution company Amadeus and home-grown travel giant Sita have bid for the project.