India-Malaysia aviation pact will boost tourism

Malaysian Airlines and Air India Express will be the first to benefit from an aviation pact signed between Malaysia and India recently (See: India, Malaysia open more airports to each other’s airlines), which allows for unlimited direct flights to 18 airports in each country. The pact may be a precursor to a free trade agreement (FTA) that is likely to be signed by year-end with Asean, which throws up the possibility of a big spurt in travel and trade.

Aviation officials speak of operating ‘combo flights’ that will carry passengers and cargo. Aviation pacts with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and others may follow individual FTAs. This is in keeping with India’s ‘Look East’ policy, formulated in the early 1990s, when talks on an ‘open skies’ policy first began with Asean.

Return India-Malaysia fares starting from Rs18,000 (RM1,550), which are considerably cheaper than, say, passages to Hong Kong, are expected to boost tourist arrivals in Malaysia, from where Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines have engaged in a high-profile campaign for the past two years.

The pact allows designated airlines from both countries to operate any number of services to and from tourist destinations such as Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli and Port Blair. The agreement also resolved the deadlock over allowing AI Express and Air Sahara (now Jetlite) to fly to Malaysia.

Malaysia Airlines, Air India and Indian Airlines fly between the two countries. Malaysia Airlines operates 26 flights a week to India, India operates almost as many to Malaysia. The flights are to and from five cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Air India and Indian Airlines face a shortage of planes, but private players like Jetlite and others are expected to make the most of the lucrative route.