Majority of Jet Airways' flying rights temporarily distributed to other Indian airlines: Govt

A majority of international flying rights held earlier by Jet Airways has been temporarily allocated to other Indian airlines till the end of the summer schedule, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

As Jet Airways ran out of funds, it shut down its operations on April 17 this year which led to a sudden rise in domestic and international airfares.

As a result, the central government decided to temporarily allocate the domestic slots as well as international flying rights of Jet Airways to other airlines who could start new flights immediately and fill the supply gap.

"Majority of the international traffic rights of Jet Airways have been distributed amongst the Indian carriers purely on temporary basis till the end of Summer Schedule, 2019 only," Puri said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The minister said the domestic slots vacated by Jet Airways starting April, 2019 have been allocated on ad hoc basis to other Indian carriers.

Before a country's airline can operate international flights, a "bilateral air services agreement" has to be negotiated to decide how many total flights (or seats) each week can be allowed from one nation to another.

Once such an agreement is signed, each country is free to allocate these flying rights to its respective airlines.