Mumbai: The Middle Eastern airlines, in a bid to strengthen their foothold in the Indian market, are likely to seek nearly 1,50,000 additional seats per week from the Indian government, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a global aviation consulting firm.
CAPA estimates that the market will open up further and there will be more penetration to the Tier-II cities in India.
"The Middle Eastern airlines will make a very compelling case for this expansion as they have a total of 400 aircraft on order. Of these, 90 are wide-bodied aircraft. These airlines need markets like India to open up for picking up traffic," said Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia and Middle East, CAPA.
According to CAPA estimates, the middle eastern carriers - Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and UAE carrier Air Arabia - are likely to ask the government permission for additional seats and also revisit their demand to fly the largest passenger airplane in the world, the A380 to India.
23/04/13 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times
