India has continued to provide surprises by further liberalising its international air services regime at a speedy pace, the latest deals being with Belgium, Canada and Germany.
Over the past year the Indian government has acted on liberalisation pledges and significantly eased restrictions in air services accords with key trading partners, such as China, France, Mauritius, Qatar, the UK and the USA. Its latest agreements with Belgium, Canada and Germany also provide for significant expansions of services.
The accord with Belgium now allows for unlimited cargo services and up to 42 weekly passenger services. This compares with the old agreement which only allowed for three weekly services by airlines from each side. There are currently no non-stop services between Belgium and India but privately owned Indian carrier Jet Airways is to launch services to Brussels that continue on to New York’s Newark Airport in the USA.
India’s agreement with Germany now allows for more than three times the number of flights. The old bilateral restricted to 16 the number of weekly services airlines from each side could operate on routes between Germany and India but this number will increase to 50 in summer 2006 under the new agreement. The increase will be phased in, with 42 frequencies allowed from the 2005 winter season.
India has also formally given German airlines access to three additional destinations – Goa, Hyderabad and Kochi – while Indian carriers will be able to serve three additional German destinations to be specified by the Indian government.
The new agreement with Canada will meanwhile increase by five times the number of round-trip services that can be operated, to 35 for airlines from each side. Airlines from each side have also been given access to four additional destinations in the other country, up from the previous two.
The first of several new airlines that aim to launch services in India this year have taken flight as the government continues to open up the domestic market to new competition. The new players are all promising to be low-cost players, although some will have in-flight amenities.
The first to launch was Kingfisher, named after its parent company UB Group’s top-selling beer. Its first flight was operated in May between Mumbai and Bangalore using a leased Airbus A320, and it is planning an aggressive expansion on other key trunk routes. It has four A320s arriving on lease and has 10 A320s and three A319s on order from Airbus. At the recent Paris air show it added commitments for the A330 and A380 .
Launching soon after Kingfisher was SpiceJet, starting with services between Delhi and Ahmedabad using a leased Boeing 737-800. It too is planning a rapid expansion.
With Kingfisher and SpiceJet now operating there are three low-cost domestic players in India, the biggest being Air Deccan which launched scheduled services in 2003. It is by far the most aggressive, with 30 A320s and 30 ATR turboprops on order. The three low-cost players are now operating alongside incumbents Air Sahara, Indian Airlines and Jet Airways.
Others preparing to operate scheduled services include Go Air, which plans to launch operations with leased A320s, and Air One Feeder Airline, which plans to launch with leased Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets. Both are aiming to start flying later this year.
Source: Airline Business
