On the lucrative Indo-Middle Eastern route, the Indian carriers will now have to face stiff competition from UAE-government promoted low-cost carrier, FlyDubai. The carrier recently received the permission to fly from six destinations in India, official sources said.
FlyDubai would operating from the smaller cities of Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Lucknow in the first phase of their expansion in the country, said a source close to the development. The bilateral air services agreement of May 2007 signed between the two nations allowed each side a weekly seating capacity of 29,100 in each direction. According to the agreement, UAE’s carriers had nine points of calls in the country which are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Now with sanction of these four smaller cities, the total number of points of call in India has risen to 13.
“We have allowed the designated UAE carriers a few more points of call in India. However, we have not increased the seating capacity,” said a government official. It is learnt that the UAE government had asked for additional capacity from Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Trichy and Mangalore, but the civil aviation ministry turned it down. According to aviation industry experts, there has been 70 per cent capacity increase from Middle-east countries. With opening of smaller metro towns to international carriers, there might be an adverse affect on not only the airlines but also on the Delhi and Mumbai airports, said Kapil Kaul, CEO (South Asia), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Indian-carriers-face-FlyDubai-on-Middle-east-air-route/475601
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