By IANS,
New Delhi : Bilateral air services pacts do not benefit foreign airlines at the cost of Indian carriers, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Tuesday.
“It’s wrong to say routes are given away to foreign airlines. It is a two-way agreement. Both Indian and foreign carriers benefit from such agreements and it is an ongoing process,” Patel said in Rajya Sabha.
Maintaining that people wanted more connectivity, the minister asked: “If some foreign airline wants to start services from Bangalore or any other city, what is the harm in that?”
India has bilateral air services agreements with over 100 countries, including developed nations like the US, Canada, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, Japan and Australia.
India’s Economic Survey for 2008-09 released July 2 said foreign carriers were allocated 105,298 additional seats per week on a reciprocal basis last fiscal, and that the government would continue doing so in the current financial year to enable greater connectivity.
Seat allocations were enhanced by increasing the number of flights, frequency and allowing these airlines to fly bigger aircraft.
Apart from this, 26 new destinations were granted to designated carriers of 16 countries on a reciprocal basis last fiscal, the survey said.
The designated airlines belong to Mexico, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Belgium, Germany, Qatar, Iran, Japan, Bhutan, Azerbaijan and Turkey.