The world’s largest commercial jet - the Airbus A-380 - could soon be flying into India.
A meeting attended by the Secretary Civil Aviation K.N. Shrivastava and other senior officials of the Ministry here on Thursday, gave its nod to allow the A-380 to start operations in a phased manner, starting with flights to Mumbai followed by those to Delhi and other airports.
The proposal will have to be cleared by the Minister for Civil Aviation before it can be implemented.
Several airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Dubai-based Emirates and Germany’s Lufthansa, are keen to bring the aircraft into India, but are now prevented by Indian rules.
The Government has all along maintained that allowing the A-380 into the country would see foreign airlines take away a large chunk of international traffic and, hence, will be detrimental to the interests of domestic carriers such as Jet Airways and Air India.
Kingfisher Airlines, which ceased operations over a year ago, is the only Indian carrier to have ordered the Airbus A-380.
A review of the Government’s decision comes in the backdrop of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation conducting a study showing that the operations of the A-380 would not adversely affect operations of Indian carriers to and from India.
The Ministry, however, proposes to take certain precautionary measures such ensuring that only airlines from those countries with which India has bilateral air services agreements (ASA) based on the number of seats, rather than the frequency of flights, are given the nod to operate A-380s.
Air services bilaterals lay down the number of flights an international airline can fly into India a week, as well as the weekly number of flights an Indian carrier can operate in that country.