Indian Government may allow carriers in the Asean region to operate unlimited number of flights to India, connecting Delhi. Later on, the exemption is probably going to include Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Indian Government could permit airlines from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), a 10-member organisation, to operate unlimited Delhi bound flights to India from their capital cities, says a report in The Hindu Business Line, a financial daily in India.
The exemption is likely to be extended to flights to India, connecting to other major cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata in due course of time.
The 10-member regional bloc includes nations like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The approval of this proposal by the Government of India will revise the 2003 India-Asean open sky agreement that permits airlines to run daily flights to various metros.
Airlines from the Asean region are also allowed to offer unlimited flights to a number of popular India tourist destinations like Kochi, Thiruvanathapuram, Kozhikode, Tiruchi, Port Blair and Visakhapatnam.
Officials hint that India is likely to follow China’s pattern in liberalising its air services accord with the Asean.
The operations are also going to benefit UK and other international travellers who look for twin-centre holidays in South Asia or for further connection to Australia and New Zealand.
Such international agreements usually work on a reciprocal basis, so it is expected that Indian airline will also be allowed to run more flights to the Asean region.
The report also specified that once the meeting between Asean countries and India takes place (scheduled to be held in August), things will be much clearer in terms of opening, timings and schedules of these flights.
The development is not likely to go down very well with the Indian carriers. India-based airlines often protest that international carriers take away Indian traffic bound for third countries instead of taking flyers from India to the country in which the airline is based.
