India and Singapore have agreed to increase the number of flights between the two countries and operate unlimited services between a clutch of Indian cities and Singapore.
Under an agreement reached today in New Delhi, it has been decided to add about 6,000 seats a week, connecting Singapore with Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The Indian side has agreed to permit the designated airlines of Singapore to operate to Amritsar and Ahmedabad on a quid pro quo basis.
The cities which can have unlimited flights are Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli. There will be no restriction on the frequency of flights or the type of aircraft.
However, the busy Indian airports -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore --have been kept out of the list of these cities. Singapore has for long been pressing for an increase in the number of flights to Mumbai and Delhi.
However, no agreement has been reached between the two countries on implementing the Asean agreement, which calls for an open sky policy among member nations. A true open sky policy enables carriers to operate unlimited flights between cities of any two countries without any restriction on the type of aircraft or the number of seats.
In a departure from the earlier tradition of allowing additional flights, the government has adopted the new method of allowing more seats.
The present agreement revises the air services agreement between the two countries, which dates back to January 23, 1968. The designated airlines of Singapore can now operate seats equivalent to three Boeing 747 aircraft. The designated airlines of India shall be entitled to operate additional seats that are equivalent to eight Boeing 747 aircraft through Singapore.
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