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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Nov. 11

THE Government is to make an offer to the members of South Asian Association of Regional cooperation (SAARC) allowing their airlines to operate a daily flight to the four metro cities and unlimited flights to 18 cities of tourist interest.

The Indian proposal, however, will be implemented only if the other SAARC member states give similar access to airlines from India, official sources said.

The proposal is likely to be made at the Dhaka SAARC summit that opens on Saturday. The seven-member regional body has India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives. The move is an extension of a similar offer that former Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made to the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) in October 2003 that allowed their airlines greater flexibility in operating flights here.

The Asean airlines are allowed to operate daily flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and also unlimited flights to Tiruchi, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Goa, Amritsar, Jaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Guwahati and Khajuraho, among other cities.

The acceptance of the latest proposal will help provide better air connectivity to people in the region as not only the airlines from SAARC nations but both the state-owned and private sector airlines from India could increase their network. At present, Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Indian Airlines operate regular flights to Nepal and Sri Lanka.

In addition, Air India and Indian Airlines operate flights to Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Interestingly, India initialled a similar agreement with Sri Lanka in 2003. The agreement paved the way for the private sector airlines from India to start international operations.

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