Private Indian carriers may soon fly to Gulf

Vancouver: The lifting of a moratorium on certain Indian airlines from flying abroad could bring a flood of new carriers serving the Gulf.
The government's three-year policy of insulating the foreign routes of Air India and Indian Airlines from its domestic competitors ends in January 2008.
When that happens, Jet and Kingfisher Airlines will both launch routes to Dubai, Muscat, and other Gulf cities, according to executives from both companies. The new competition will be felt by the incumbent airlines from India and the UAE alike, raising questions of whether the market is big enough for new players.
Jet, which operates more than 340 flights to destinations in India as well as Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and London, will allocate A330 aircraft for the new routes, Shetty said.
Kingfisher, which recently acquired Air Deccan, will transfer around 10 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft to fly to Gulf states as early as January, according to Sudhan Thomas, a regional director at Kingfisher.
V.K. Verma, commercial director at Air India, said his airline already had an extensive network in the Gulf, and welcomed the entry of at least two competitors in the next year.
05/06/07 Ivan Gale/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, New Jun 2007