Swamy threatens PIL against extra Abu Dhabi air traffic rights

Janata Party chief threatens PIL against additional traffic rights to Abu Dhabi

The Jet-Etihad alliance could hit a roadblock, with Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy demanding a comprehensive review of the enhanced traffic rights agreement signed with Abu Dhabi (UAE) in April.

“The review by the prime minister must be comprehensive, with inputs from all the stakeholders which includes me as a public representative. If that does not happen, I will seek the quashing the India-UAE deal. I will wait till July when the Supreme Court re-opens. I have to first write to the prime minister as a pre-requisite for the court to take notice,” Swamy said in a emailed response to Business Standard.

Swamy, who earlier took on the government in the 2G sprectum scam, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the alliance. “The pricing of Jet shares and the sweetening of the deal by de facto rendering UAE as an Indian traffic hub are fraudulent,” he said.

Swamy denied that he was raking up the Jet-Etihad alliance issue on behest of other airlines or airport operators, which too have opposed the deal. “I am a fighter for public interest,” he said.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh was not available for comment. The Union cabinet is yet to give its approval to the seat agreement.

On the day Jet Airways and Etihad Airways shook hands for a 24 per cent equity investment in the former, the civil aviation ministry concluded seat enhancement talks with Abu Dhabi, hiking the bilateral weekly seat quota from 13,000 to 50,000. Etihad will invest about Rs 2,060 crore for a 24 per cent stake. According to a government press release, both sides agreed to allocate an additional entitlement of 36,670 seats per week spread over a period of three years — 11,000 seats per week in 2013, 12,800 seats a week up to the winter schedule for 2014 and 12,870 seats a week up to the winter schedule for 2015.

The Jet-Etihad deal has been opposed by other politicians too. The parliamentary standing committee on tourism, transport and culture, headed by Sitaram Yechury, too voiced concern over Abu Dhabi getting increased access to India through its proposed equity participation with Jet Airways. Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Dinesh Trivedi wrote a letter to the prime minister, seeking immediate intervention to suspend talks of increasing bilateral flying rights between India and Abu Dhabi.