IndiGo CEO defends India’s stand on bilateral air traffic rights; says just because some countries are making noise doesn’t mean they are right

“It’s called the bilateral agreement, right? That means two sides have to agree on something, and if one side makes more and more noise, it doesn’t mean that you’re more and more right. It’s a bilateral agreement, and that means that the two sides have to agree on what’s the benefit for both sides,” Elbers said in response to a question.

According to Elbers, viewing India’s approach as protectionist would not be correct as historically, foreign carriers were utilising their flying rights to India while Indian airlines were not able to do so at the same level, which in effect led to imbalances. He also noted that India has over the recent years expanded air services agreements with some countries, which reflects that the country is open to revising pacts in cases where both sides have something to gain.

“Historically, a lot of countries had flying rights to India, and were using these while Indian operators were not using these flying rights. I think that should be taken into consideration as well…there were massive number of flights into India and no operations by Indian operators. So, for a government to look at that and to say, first, let’s use the existing pool of traffic rights, and when the existing pool is exhausted, go to new traffic rights, I think it’s a completely fair and balanced approach,” Elbers said at a briefing during the ongoing annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Delhi.

The Indian government and major Indian carriers like Air India and IndiGo have ambitions to have more direct international connectivity from India and to turn the country into an international aviation hub. Long-haul travel on board Indian carriers, however, continues to remain a challenge as a significant number of passengers flying to far off destinations from India take connecting flights through major global hubs outside the country, Dubai and Doha for instance.

This is part of the reason why New Delhi has been playing hardball with the Gulf countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates, on the issue of bilateral air traffic rights and has not been heeding their calls for expansion of traffic rights. The UAE and Dubai-based carrier Emirates have been urging India to increase seats under the India-Dubai bilateral air services agreement beyond the limit of around 66,000 seats per week per direction, the Indian government appears to be unwilling to lend an ear.

The reason is clear. India wants its carriers to ramp up wide-body operations, instead of facilitating foreign airlines, particularly Gulf-based carriers with deep pockets, in ferrying passengers to Europe and beyond via their large hubs. Put simply, increasing seats under bilateral pacts does not sit well with India’s grand aviation ambitions.

Weighing in on the issue, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said that as they grow, Indian airlines deserve to get access to markets globally, and the current issues related to flying rights are “just an issue of timing”.

“Flying rights are an issue right across the world. It’s not unique to India…When we look at two, maybe three years ago, there were less than 50 wide-body aircraft based in India…That’s now being corrected with the addition of new wide body aircraft to both the IndiGo fleet and the Air India fleet. And as we see the expansion of the carriers in India accessing new markets, you will have to see a corresponding change to the approach for access, because Indian carriers will want access to markets right across the world, and deserve to get access to markets right across the world. So, I think this is just an issue of timing,” Walsh said.