Mumbai: The much-awaited merger between Air-India and Indian is expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet by end of February, with the Committee of Secretaries submitting its recommendations to the Group of Ministers.

The Group of Ministers, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is likely to meet shortly to give its final changes to the recommendations before sending it for Cabinet approval, a top aviation industry source told sources.

Air-India and Indian are the country's international and national carriers respectively.

"The merger of the two airlines into a new entity now requires only the final approval of the Union Cabinet and is likely to be completed by this month-end," the source said.

"It will also be one of Asia's largest with a fleet strength of more than 100 aircraft," the source said.

The Committee of Secretaries has cleared the merger and submitted its recommendations to the Group of Ministers addressing the issues raised by the latter, thus paving the way for the merger, the source said.

When contacted, V Thulasidas, Air-India's Chairman and Managing Director, said all he would say at this juncture was that the GoM would meet shortly and send its proposal to the Cabinet. He did not give a time-frame as to when the merger would be approved.