 "Indian carriers may increase Dubai seat entitlements by 6,000 seats a week")
India and Dubai are likely to finalise an agreement to increase the seat entitlement by 6,000 seats a week. However, the outcome of the talks depends on Indian carriers agreeing to hold talks without any commitment of getting preferred slots at Dubai's main airport.
This comes almost a year after the ministry turned down a similar request from Dubai. The talks have resumed as Indian carriers have fully utilised the current capacity entitlements. Of the current entitlement, 66,504 seats on the sector designated airlines of both India and Dubai are utilising capacity to the full extent.
According to an official of a private airline, the civil aviation ministry official has asked Indian carriers whether the agreement can be increased without any guarantee of slots. Simultaneously the ministry has also asked if the Indian carriers will use the Al-Maktoum International Airport at Jebel Ali which is 37 kilometres away from the main city of Dubai. "The civil aviation ministry sent a questionnaire to airlines asking if it is okay to hold talks without any guarantee of slots at Dubai's main airport," the official said. Lobby group Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which represents IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go Air and Jet Airways has asked the government to ensure that they get preferred slots at Dubai airport. However, Dubai Airport in the past has said that the allocation of slots is independent of bilateral agreements.
Mohammed Ahil, Director General of the Civil Aviation, the governing body of aviation activities in the Gulf state has written to ministry that there is a further requirement of increasing the number of seats as carriers from Dubai was not being able to expand operations in India for lack of flying rights.
The move would benefit Dubai-based airline major Emirates which is seeking to expand operations in the country.
Emirates had earlier expressed its desire to increase network in the country. "We have ten cities in India. We are trying to expand as much as we can. With the limited seat capacity we are very much restricted today to these ten points.
"If the bilateral agreement goes through, we can gain seats and we can cover most of the points in India. Our objective is to cover as much as we can," Ahmed Khoory, senior vice president, commercial operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean, had said during the India Aviation-2016 in March.
Emirates did not respond to a detailed query on its expansion plans.
The seat allocation between India and Dubai has always been a contentious issue with Indian airlines often complaining that it is pitted against them. The federal auditor Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its 2011 report pointed out that the government is increasing the seat entitlement to Gulf even though Indian airlines were struggling for slots at Dubai airport.
The UPA government increased Dubai's allocation from 10,400 seats a week to six cities of India in 2003-04 to 54,200 seats a week to 14 cities by 2008-09. Currently, both the countries' designated carriers can operate 63,000 seats per week. Both countries have now exhausted their quota and negotiations are on for increasing seat entitlements.
