Air India joining Star Alliance – how this affects Aeroplan

Star Alliance has officially announced that Air India will be joining Star Alliance:

What does this mean? Well, it means that Air India seats will be available for Star Alliance bookings, including on Aeroplan. We do not yet know when award seats will be available for booking, but typically, award seats are released a couple days before official alliance joining dates.We also don’t know whether Aeroplan will be charging YQ on Air India, however, Aeroplan does not typically charge YQ on new entrants into the Star Alliance (ex. they are still not charging YQ on new entrant EVA Airways).

What we do know is that Air India operates economy, business, and first class cabins. Relevant to Canadians, they operate flights to: Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR), New York City (JFK), London (LHR), and Frankfurt (FRA). These are all very easy cities to connect to, and Air India offers unparalleled access among the alliances to destinations throughout India. They used to operate two services to Canada, in Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL), but these routes are now terminated.

I will update you when Air India has released award seats to Aeroplan.