By IANS
New Delhi : The mega airline created by the merger of the country's domestic and flag carriers will retain the Air India title, it was announced here Tuesday.
The decision was taken as Air India is a globally and nationally recognized brand name, as well as the designated airline in international bilateral agreements, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said while unveiling the new livery and the logo of the merged airline here.
This apart, since the AI code was available only to the existing name, it had been decided that the merged entity would continue with the same name, the minister added.
The new airline will retain Air India's Maharaja mascot. However, the design components of the new logo and livery have been drawn after merging some of the current features of both Air India and Indian Airlines.
The logo of the new airline has a Flying Swan with the Konark wheel placed inside it. The Flying Swan has been morphed from Air India's Centaur logo, whereas the Konark wheel is reminiscent of Indian's logo.
The new logo will feature prominently on the aircraft tail, while the Konark Wheel will also feature on all the engines.
The choice of colours, red for the swan and orange for the wheel are meant to signify vigour and advancement, an official release said.
This apart, "the colours also have a strong association with the two carriers thereby retaining the earlier imagery of traditional hospitality and service," the release added.
While the aircraft will be ivory in colour, the base will retain the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other will be orange and red lines from the front to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one.
The brand name Air India will run across the tail of the aircraft.
The new company's registered office will be in New Delhi and its corporate office will be in Mumbai. Its office for domestic operations as well as the strategic business units will be mostly based in Delhi, the release said.