By Sanjay Singh, IANS
New Delhi : Abu Dhabi, Dubai and some destinations in Saudi Arabia will be among additional routes available to private Indian carriers soon, with the government proposing to open up the Gulf sector further.
“We will hold bilateral talks with some more Gulf states next month. This will permit more private carriers to fly to these destinations soon,” a senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.
“The government had opened up Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain to private sector air operators from Jan 1, when the ban on non-state-owned carriers to fly there was lifted,” the official told IANS.
Naresh Goyal-controlled Jet Airways has started flights to Muscat and Doha, and has also added Kuwait and Bahrain subsequently from Indian cities such as Kozhikode, Kochi, Mumbai and Delhi.
Officials at the private airline said they have also applied for permission to fly to Abu Dhabi and Dubai that was not granted by the government earlier and look forward to a positive outcome of the bilateral talks.
“We will serve these routes with our world-class service on the advanced Boeing 737-800 aircraft offering the highest quality of comfort,” Goyal said Saturday when the airline launched its flight to Muscat from Kozhikode.
“We will hopefully get permission to fly to Abu Dhabi and Dubai after the talks are completed. We are also hopeful the current clause of only one airline from both Saudi Arabia and India being allowed to fly the route will be dropped.”
Till Dec 31 last year, Air India and its subsidiaries had a monopoly over the Gulf and Saudi Arabia sectors, among other destinations.
“The Gulf route was the second-largest revenue generator for Air India among its global routes. In 2005-06, the carrier earned over Rs.15.91 billion ($403 million) from this sector,” the ministry official said.
The official said, Air India, which has already increased the frequency of its flights to Gulf destinations, has now added more aircraft to its fleet and plans to expand its reach there with its low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express.