New Delhi: A few weeks ago, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stunned the aviation world in India when he announced the launch of Air Kerala, a state government-owned airline, to fly to the Gulf. This was seen largely as a reaction to an increase in air fares on those routes, and to Air India Express diverting its planes from the Gulf routes to cater to the Haj traffic.
No one knows whether the plan has any teeth to it. Indeed, the Ministry of Civil Aviation hasn’t yet received any formal application from the state. However, what the entire incident did was drawing attention to the increasingly booming business in the Gulf routes and some of the cash-generating airlines that fly those.
According to the International Air Transport Association’s July 2012 data, “The Middle East (or West Asian) carriers experienced the strongest traffic growth, at 11.2 per cent year-over-year, although this was surpassed by a 12.4 per cent rise in capacity.” These kinds of numbers are no doubt helped by the fact that India has signed three bilateral pacts with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — specifically, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. With Sharjah alone, India’s treaty allows for around 17,800 seats on a weekly basis. All the airlines from the UAE have above 95 per cent utilisation of their bilaterals.
04/10/12 Business Standard
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No one knows whether the plan has any teeth to it. Indeed, the Ministry of Civil Aviation hasn’t yet received any formal application from the state. However, what the entire incident did was drawing attention to the increasingly booming business in the Gulf routes and some of the cash-generating airlines that fly those.
According to the International Air Transport Association’s July 2012 data, “The Middle East (or West Asian) carriers experienced the strongest traffic growth, at 11.2 per cent year-over-year, although this was surpassed by a 12.4 per cent rise in capacity.” These kinds of numbers are no doubt helped by the fact that India has signed three bilateral pacts with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — specifically, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. With Sharjah alone, India’s treaty allows for around 17,800 seats on a weekly basis. All the airlines from the UAE have above 95 per cent utilisation of their bilaterals.
04/10/12 Business Standard
