Private airlines set to fly more international routes

The allotment of international rights to Indian private carriers is set to increase to over 59 per cent by the winter schedule next year that begins from October 2013. The international rights for national carrier Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express is also set to increase to around 41 per cent during the same period.

Earlier the private carriers were utilising 10.8 per cent of the total international rights and Air India was utilising 11.9 per cent.

By October 2013, out of 1,695 weekly services, Air India has been allowed to operate 691 services and private Indian carriers have been allowed to utilise 1,004 services.

In the Winter Schedule, which started end of October this year, Air India and AI Express have been allowed to operate 577 flights a week and the private Indian carriers have been allowed to operate 764 services a week.

In the meanwhile, the government has been slow on allowing international carriers to start flights into the country.

India has signed bilateral air services agreement with 109 countries offering total 8,34,000 weekly seats on international air routes connecting all these countries with India.

The government has allowed Indian carriers to operate flights to a lot of new destination. The new cities include Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne, Nairobi, Al Najaf (Iraq), Moscow, Zurich, Macau, Tashkent and Ho Chi Minh City.

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