Aviation ministry to open 11 new overseas routes to Indian carriers
24 Mar 2012
The ministry of civil aviation has decided to open 11 new international sectors under bilateral air services agreements (ASAs) to Indian scheduled carriers, including national carrier Air India.
These sectors include: Mumbai-Dar-es-Salaam, Delhi-Guangzhou, Delhi-Yangon, Delhi-Tashkent, Delhi-Ho-Chi-Minh City, Delhi-Hanoi, Delhi-Almaty, Delhi-Macao, Delhi-Addis Ababa, Delhi-Melbourne and Delhi-Sydney.
Union minister for civil aviation Ajith Singh had earlier reviewed the utilisation of traffic rights under bilateral aviation agreements and has decided to allow Indian scheduled carriers, including Air India, to utilise the bilaterals till such time they reach the maximum permissible limit under air service agreements (ASAs), an official release said on Friday.
However, Air India's operational plan would receive prority while considering allocation of traffic rights and entitlements, the release said.
With this, the services of Air India and its low-cost arm Air India Express will increase to 471 per week during Summer 2012, from the existing 430 services per week during winter 2011.
Air India will be operating 109 services to Dubai during Summer 2012 against 94 during winter 2011. Services in the Abu Dhabi sector will go up to 47 from 39, services in the Sharjah sector to 49 from 33, services in Doha sector to 21 from the current 12 and services in the Saudi sector will go up to 48 from the existing 42, the release said.