Air India has been denied membership into the Star Alliance and this has prompted an apparent retaliatory measure by the Indian government. Lufthansa, a Star Alliance member, will not be allowed to land its A380 aircraft in New Delhi.

Star Alliance refused Air India's request for membership in August due to concerns over the Indian carrier's financial situation. Lufthansa has been looking to expand its flights into India and the high-capacity super jumbo A380 is the cornerstone of that effort. Air India has been plagued by financial woes and recent reports of pilots failing sobriety tests, though the problem is not exclusive to the carrier. According to a report in The Times of India, between January 2009 and November 2010, as many as 57 drunk pilots were detected in random pre-flight medical tests, affecting Indian airlines Jet, JetLite, IndiGo, Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Air India, including IA, AI Express and Alliance Air, and GoAir.

Though the pilot issues were not cited as the reason for the denial of Air India's entry into Star Alliance, it did not bode well for the airline already facing financial worries. A spokesman for Lufthansa said the landing rights issue should not be linked to Star Alliance's decision on Air India, saying other airlines have also been unsuccessful so far in obtaining the right to land some of their aircraft in New Delhi, according to Reuters