Sunday, March 27, 2016

Flight Operators Seek Government Sops to Offset Losses

Visakhapatnam: Unless the government offers incentives, dreams of operating international flights might not be realised in the near future, felt speakers at the International Airlines Summit held here on Saturday. They urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow the flight operators to include at least two domestic destinations before flying off to a foreign destination.

Participants, including representatives of various airline operators, felt that all four airports in AP, particularly Vizag airport, has potential for operation of international flights. However, they pointed out that to make it financially viable, the government should offer support in terms of incentives by giving underwriting for vacant seats.

“We need to conduct a market analysis to identify the potential of each airport and plan accordingly to operate international flights. The flight operators too should run long-haul flights from Tier-II cities,” said Tariq H Butt, head (airport marketing) of Airports Authority of India (AAI).

He explained that every year, about 60,000 passengers from AP are travelling to the Middle East countries via Hyderabad and this could be netted by the airlines by operating international flights directly from the state. According to him, the airlines can operate international flights directly to all Asian countries except Philippines and Lavos as well as SAARC countries except Afghanistan and Pakistan without additional traffic rights.
27/03/16 New Indian Express
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