Indian laws could prevent more flights by African airlines

New Delhi: The Indian Government's attempts at building bridges with Africa could get unstuck by old laws which govern flights from the Continent.
Flights between the two countries are determined by air services bilaterals, which are exchanged between the two sovereign nations.
So, the number of flights between say America and India are determined by the bilaterals that the Governments of these two countries sign with each other.
Seeing that it is bilaterals which determine the frequency of flights between two countries and given the new-found interest in Africa across the globe, a number of African countries have made requests for exchanging air services bilaterals with India.
Kenya, Nigeria and Botswana expressed their interest at increasing or taking forward bilateral entitlements at a recently concluded international conference in Mumbai.
Many of these requests, however, could not be taken forward due to old laws which govern allowing more flights between India and Africa.
“The Indian law says that unless effective control and substantial ownership of an airline rests with either the Government or a national of a country from where the airline is designated, we cannot go in for exchange of flights. In the case of Africa this is becoming a problem. The Ministry will have to take a decision on this issue,” a person familiar with the situation told Business Line.
02/12/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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

Categories: Foreign Dec 2011, Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2011