Govt lets go of foreign skies, Jet and Sahara can fly anywhere bar Gulf

For now, the Gulf sector—UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia—is open only to Air-India and Indian Airlines. The Cabinet, however, decided that this restriction will hold for just three years after which it can be reviewed.

As the Cabinet met to open foreign sectors to private Indian carriers, it agreed on an eligibility criteria that included five years of continuous flying and a minimum fleet of 20 aircraft. As of now, only Jet Airways and Air Sahara meet this benchmark.

These two can now mount flights to most foreign destinations, including points in the US and UK. India today has sufficient available air bilateral entitlements with a majority of these countries.

In fact, the entitlements with Britain were recently doubled and talks are slated next month with the US to add more destinations and flights. Another likely gainer from today’s decision is Indian Airlines. It is reliably learnt that IA’s international route network will no longer depend on Air-India’s decisions.

Just like Jet and Sahara, IA too will now be allowed to operate to any foreign destination as AI will no longer enjoy the first right of refusal.

‘‘Indian Airlines has been assured by the government to look forward to further expansion of its international route network. As a matter of fact, the airline in close consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation has initiated the process of leasing wide-bodied aircraft to be prepared for this moment,’’ said Sunil Arora, CMD of Indian Airlines. According to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, IA’s proposal to purchase 43 aircraft will be completed by next month. ‘‘The intention is to strengthen the public carriers while opening up the sector to cater for the rising demand among travellers.’’

In another significant decision, the Cabinet also decided to discontinue the practice of making commercial agreements a mandatory clause in all air bilateral agreements. The existing agreements will be phased out over the next five years.

These agreements have been a major advantage to Air-India, which has utilised them to enter into arrangements with foreign airlines and corner the benefits.

This also contributed to AI’s revenues by way of agreements that were earlier mandated by the government.

The decision not to open up the Gulf sector to private airlines was partly to help AI cushion the impact of this opening up. But with its proposal for new aircraft slated to be cleared by March, officials say AI would be stable over the next three years.