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Unused Air India bilaterals may be used by foreign airlines

Puja Mehra

The civil aviation ministry has proposed that domestic Indian carriers as well as other international airlines should be allowed to operate on routes where the bilaterals signed between India and countries including Russia, USA, Germany and UK have been lying unused for three years continuously.

About 55-60 per cent of the bilaterals remain unused due to unavailability of aircraft with Air-India.

The first right of refusal, however, will be retained with the national carriers, top government officials said.

As a result, while Indian Airlines could be permitted to fly to Europe and America, international airlines including Emirates and Singapore International Airlines that have even offered to pay rents, could operate Air-India's unused flying rights to Dubai and Singapore, they said.

The proposal is a part of the section on bilaterals in the final draft of the civil aviation policy that is to be put before the Cabinet for approval shortly.

Since the policy has provisions for allowing private airlines to fly overseas in the future, these too can operate on these routes, they said. Which means Jet Airways and Air Sahara could also bag the unused rights and even fly to Europe and Australia.

Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, the officials said, "Our carriers with their small and aged fleets just do not have the capacity to match the growing traffic. It does not matter who carries the traffic- AI, IA, Jet or British Airways, it is important that passengers should not suffer."

The passenger load factor for Singapore Airlines for instance, has increased from 86 per cent in 1995-96 to 91 per cent in April-March 2000 for Singapore-Madras route and from 71 per cent to 82 per cent on Singapore-Calcutta route.

According to experts, an average PSF above 75 per cent can mean frequent offloadings. "Anything above 85 per cent is purely unhealthy," they say.

Declining to give details on the criteria that will be used to determine which airlines will be allowed to fly on the unused bilaterals, officials said that the carrier's ability to operate on these routes in terms of capacity availability and aircraft suitability will be used. The flying rights will, however, not be auctioned, they said categorically.

At present designated carriers from about 55-odd countries operate from India. Since November 1999, fresh bilateral agreements have been signed with 21 countries including Germany, UK, Thailand, UAE and Gulf Air owning states.

Indian national carriers particularly Air India has not been able to fly on all these routes due to inadequacy of aircraft. Moreover, Air India does not have plans to purchase any new aircraft.

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