Govt saves carriers from foreign competition

New Delhi: With blue skies having turned a deep red for most of the airlines, and Indian carriers not flying all the sanctioned international routes, the government has decided to put on hold bilateral air services agreements on select sectors for the time being. While it may deprive flyers of potential lower fares, the domestic carriers would be spared another threat to their business.
The civil aviation ministry recently turned down a request by Singapore Airlines to grant a stopover in Delhi or Mumbai for its flight to London. The current Indo-Singapore bilateral agreement prohibits Singapore to operate flights beyond India to London, USA, Gulf and Middle East.
The India-United Kingdom route, which is at present served by three Indian carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — has nearly 32, 921 weekly seats. “In a situation where domestic carriers are suffering huge losses, the government has decided to put a freeze on further opening of skies on this route. It is widely feared by the industry that Singapore Airlines will wean away business from Indian carriers, offering much lower fares,” said a government official. Sources told The Indian Express that the Singapore Airlines is flying an A380 on Singapore-London route with very poor load factors.
12/06/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2009