India to seek airport slots for its airlines in future bilaterals

Move follows repeated complaints by airlines they're being overlooked in terms of peak time slots

India may make allocation of airport slots for its airlines an essential part of any bilateral signed in future. This is after hectic lobbying and repeated complaints by airlines that they were being overlooked in terms of peak-time slots.

According to sources, the civil aviation and external affairs ministries agree that countries showing interest in increasing seat allocations will be asked to provide slots to Indian airlines of their choice. “We are a big market in terms of passengers. Many foreign airlines want to expand in India. We intend to play to our strength,” a civil aviation ministry official said.

“There is a consensus in the ministry that we need to be more vocal about our carriers,” the official added.

Indian airlines complain lack of slots in foreign airports hampers scheduling and curbs the viability of their overseas operations.

Another official, however, said slot allocation, usually handled by airport operators, could not be part of bilaterals. “Most major airports are private. Allocation of slots is the airport operator’s prerogative,” he said.

India recently allowed Saudi Arabia to increase weekly seats by 8,000 from 20,000 now so long as Indian airlines use 80% of their current flying rights.

“Saudi Arabia is a case in point how other countries can gain from an increase in allocations. Carriers from Saudi Arabia can now directly tap into traffic from India that was being diverted to Oman and Qatar,” the second official said.

Indian airlines are rapidly expanding operations to the Middle East. IndiGo and SpiceJet have been adding flights to cities like Dubai.

“Finally, our efforts are showing results. It becomes unprofitable to operate flights at unearthly hours. There should be an equitable allocation of slots,” said an executive with a private airline.

Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo offer nearly 50% fewer seats than foreign airlines operating in India. Till June, Indian airlines were offering 242,365 seats on flights to and from India, compared with 432,456 seats offered by foreign airlines.