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. Singapore Airlines general manager (India) C W Foo said that grant of stopover rights at either Delhi or Mumbai for its flight to London was a matter between the respective ministries of both the governments. But Foo added,In the future,Singapore Airlines does envisage increase in the number of flights between Singapore and India and would need more bilateral rights. A similar request for grant of traffic rights on this route by Air Asia,a low-cost Malaysian carrier,was turned down by the ministry. The ministry instead asked the carrier to approach the Malaysian government and work out traffic rights within the framework of the existing bilateral agreement,which allows flights to London beyond India. We are willing to consider new routes such as those with West African countries but not on the usually heavy traffic routes where our airlines can make significant revenue, the official added. According to the latest figures made available by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA),there was a year-on-year increase of barely 0.5 per cent in traffic on this sector. The London route continues to be over-served from Delhi and Mumbai. Any additional capacity would impact the business for current players significantly, said Kapil Kaul,CEO (South Asia),CAPA. The Middle-East carrier,Emirates,has already cornered one-third of the Delhi-London market,a setback for domestic carriers on the same route. British Airways showed some increase in load factor because it launched an additional flight from Hyderabad,while Virgin Atlantic showed a decrease as it suspended its Mumbai-London flight. At the same time,Air India and Jet Airways have reduced seat capacity. Jet Airways,which has permission for 32 services per week to London,is utilising only 28 having discontinued flights to London from Amritsar and Ahmedabad. Kingfisher has been granted seven services per week to London,from Mumbai and Bangalore each,according to official data. The India-UK bilateral air services agreement allows 56 services between the two countries per week by designated carriers on each side.
