India's pact with ASEAN in limbo

New Delhi: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee idea of an open sky or unlimited flights to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is getting a quiet burial.
Though current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also in favour of the same and even called for it at the ASEAN summit in January this year but the Civil Aviation Ministry has turned down the proposal.
Foreign airlines like Singapore Airlines along with Thai and Malaysian carriers want the deal to go through badly as a proposed open sky or unlimited flights agreement gives them access to more cities and frequencies
All of them want a slice of the Indian market that is growing at 100 per cent over the past three years. It allows traffic to be fed to South Asian hubs in Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur for the onward journey to US, Europe and other countries.
But the civil aviation ministry says the deal is not equitable.
"If we look at the larger pie and involve other economic benefits like increased trade etc we should go for it otherwise it is not good. India has to save its market," Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation CEO Kapil Kaul says.
05/05/07 Karma Paljor/CNN-IBN

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Categories: Foreign May 2007, General Aviation May 2007