The Hindu Business Line : Govt nod for over 5 lakh additional seats on foreign airlines during open sky policy

IN an effort to ensure greater air connectivity to and from India, the Union Government has approved additional capacity of more than 5,54,000 seats for international airlines during the limited open sky policy.

The additional capacity for foreign airline has been approved under the limited open sky policy, which the Government is following between November 1, this year and March 31, next year.

Official sources told Business Line that more than 1,00,000 additional seats have been approved for both Qatar Airways and the Dubai-based Emirates airlines.

Sources indicated that the Government has given approval for 1,45,000 additional seats for Emirates alone. Among the airlines whose request for additional capacity has been approved include Thai Airways, which has been granted more than 43,000 seats, the German airline Lufthansa (more than 18,000 seats) and Srilankan Airlines (more than 11,000 seats). During the open sky period, international airlines are allowed to either operate larger aircraft or operate more flights in order to ensure that there is no shortage of seats.

The Government has also given approval for additional capacity to Gulf Air (more than 99,000 seats), Cathay Pacific (more than 41,000 seats), Singapore Airlines (close to 15,000 seats) Russian Airlines, Aeroflot (more than 10,000 seats) and Austrian Airlines (about 4,000 seats).

In a bid to ensure that more airlines will be able to take up the open sky offer, the Government announced the policy early.

A number of airlines have responded to the offer and requested permission to operate to different airports around the country during the five-month open sky period.

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