New Delhi: Defending the charge of eating into national carrier Air India's traffic, Gulf carrier Emirates president Tim Clark has said that he is baffled by his airline earning the tag of 'de facto national carrier of India', as Air India had equal opportunities as everyone else but failed to take it. In fact, Clark argues that Air India should've been where Emirates is 25 years ago.
"We keep getting thrown Air India at us. We can't inhibit the growth of Air India. In 1960, the first jet aircraft that I flew was Air India's. It was a full carrier then. But where is it now? It always had opportunities like all of us had. It had the opportunity to engage its market. When you think about it, you've had an enormous opportunity. Why didn't they take it?" Clark told ET in an exclusive interview at the 69th annual general meeting of IATA at Cape Town.
Clark's comments come in the backdrop of recent government data, which shows how Dubai-based Emirates has the largest market share of Indian passengers flying to overseas destinations at 13.04%, more than Air India. A report on Air India by the national auditor CAG in 2011 blamed the civil aviation ministry for giving windfall traffic rights (54,000 seats per week) to Emirates readily, causing Air India to lose out on traffic. However, Clark rubbished these charges questioning why is Air India where it is today. "It should be the largest carrier on the planet.
08/06/13 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times
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"We keep getting thrown Air India at us. We can't inhibit the growth of Air India. In 1960, the first jet aircraft that I flew was Air India's. It was a full carrier then. But where is it now? It always had opportunities like all of us had. It had the opportunity to engage its market. When you think about it, you've had an enormous opportunity. Why didn't they take it?" Clark told ET in an exclusive interview at the 69th annual general meeting of IATA at Cape Town.
Clark's comments come in the backdrop of recent government data, which shows how Dubai-based Emirates has the largest market share of Indian passengers flying to overseas destinations at 13.04%, more than Air India. A report on Air India by the national auditor CAG in 2011 blamed the civil aviation ministry for giving windfall traffic rights (54,000 seats per week) to Emirates readily, causing Air India to lose out on traffic. However, Clark rubbished these charges questioning why is Air India where it is today. "It should be the largest carrier on the planet.
08/06/13 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times
