As the air travel industry continues to grow and develop, more and more frequently are companies buying one another out in aggressive business acquisition maneuvers. To combat this, smaller airlines are embarking on joint ventures together and merging to form stronger business models in order to continue operating effectively. One such relatively recent merge has happened between Air India and Indian Airlines on the 27th of February in 2011.

Prior to the merge, Indian was an independent major airline based in the Indian city of Delhi. The airline was primarily focused on domestic routes, but also provided international services for commercial passengers to several destinations in countries that are located nearby in the rest of Asia.

The airline was a state owned company and as such, all of its administrative procedures were operated by the governing body known as the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The company with which it has merged (Air India) was also owned by the Indian government, with both airlines operating as official flag carriers for India. This entitled both companies to exclusive rights and privileges that ensured the smooth running of the company during periods of financial and economic strain.
The merge was completed by forming a parent company into which both Air India and Indian Airlines were absorbed. This company was formed during 2007 by the Indian government, and was operated under the official name of the National Aviation Company of India Limited. The company now operates using the name Air India Limited.

Now that the merger period is complete, the airline has now established a headquarters in Mumbai and has a fleet which consists of more than one hundred and thirty aircraft.

Air India now operates over an extensive network of domestic destinations, providing commercial passengers with budget travel to forty-nine different locations across India. Furthermore, the airline provides international passenger flights to and from nineteen different locations spread out across the rest of Asia as well as in Europe and North America. Because of the widespread area over which the airline operates, Air India is responsible for transporting a good deal of tourism to and from India. As such, the company is considered vitally important since a large amount of the overall economic revenue of India is sourced from tourism endeavours throughout various regions of the country. Indeed, India enjoys a vast amount of tourism each year and this is owed in part to the efforts of the government and Air India in particular.