New Delhi, July 13: With a growing demand from several foreign carriers for India to extend its 'open skies' policy for a longer period, public sector Indian carriers are feeling threatened that their operations and profitability would be affected if such a decision is taken. Foreign governments, especially those from the Gulf, South and Southeast Asia, have been asking for round-the-year open skies from the indian government so that their national carriers could funnel the traffic from here to their home base and carry it to various points beyond their hubs.
Sources in the Indian Airlines and Air India say that most of the airlines, like those from Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Sri Lanka, focus on carrying passengers from India and bound for the US, Europe or Australia, over their respective hubs. They say that allowing them free access to the Indian market would enable them to not only fill up their flights from their hubs, but also allow them to play around with the traffic and yields on the end-to-end market.
The foreign airlines would have the spare capacity on the end-to-end market and affect the long haul operations of Indian Airlines and Air India, the sources felt. While the government has been following a permanent 'open skies' policy for cargo services, it has been declaring 'open skies' during peak seasons for about four to five months during the past few years. Bureau Report