Air India’s entry into Star Alliance has dipped through after three years of desperate wait.

On Sunday, the Chief Executives Board of Star Alliance suspended the assimilation as India’s flagship carrier failed to fulfill the membership requirements.

A Star Alliance spokesperson has confirmed that there is no plan to reassess Air India’s application.

The deferment is certainly a shocker for AI, which had already cleared a safety review by Star Alliance members and expressed positive thoughts that Air India would meet the July 31 deadline in order to fulfill the remainder of the membership requirements.

However, there are speculations that pilots for AI have complained in a letter to Star Alliance that the management was forcing them to fly longer hours than recommended, submitting safety to hanger.

Christian Klick, the Vice President (corporate office) for Star Alliance, has announced that “The chief executive board of Star Alliance decided that integration of Air India into the global airline alliance will be suspended. The decision leaves room to discuss a potential Alliance membership at a future stage, if deemed appropriate by both parties”.

However, Air India had already made considerable investments of nearly $10 million for becoming acquiescent with the Star Alliance standards, in spite of extreme financial pressure.

Membership in Star Alliance would have granted AI an access to more than 1,033 global destinations for movement of passengers.