Paving the way for JEtihad, the Cabinet approved the additional grant of 36,670 weekly seats between India and Abu Dhabi. The Cabinet approved the bilateral air service agreement (ASA) between the two countries that was signed in April to enhance current flying rights of 13,600 seats per week in a phased manner over three years.
The new ASA was signed on April 24 in Abu Dhabi just hours after UAE’s flag carrier Etihad had agreed to invest Rs 2,058 crore into Jet Airways at a premium. Etihad and among Indian carriers mainly Jet were allowed to increase weekly capacity by 11,000 seats immediately; another 12,800 by end of 2014 and yet another 12,870 by 2015 winter.
The Cabinet note prepared by the aviation ministry argued that India’s open sky policy had not hurt the country’s interests. It pointed out that the share of Indian carriers’ in international traffic in and out of the country was 28.8% in 2005-06 and had gone up to 33.3% now.
While ASAs have traditionally been signed by the aviation ministry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted this to be brought to the Cabinet after it became controversial. Politicians from many parties like BJP and Left alleged that additional flying rights were given to ensure that Jet gets funding from Etihad. Senior CPI leader Gurudas Das Gupta had written to Singh, saying the Jet-Etihad deal “went through only because UAE was licensed to fly 37,000 additional seats to India every week... without these, Etihad was not interested in buying (a) portion of Jet.”
The new ASA was signed on April 24 in Abu Dhabi just hours after UAE’s flag carrier Etihad had agreed to invest Rs 2,058 crore into Jet Airways at a premium. Etihad and among Indian carriers mainly Jet were allowed to increase weekly capacity by 11,000 seats immediately; another 12,800 by end of 2014 and yet another 12,870 by 2015 winter.
The Cabinet note prepared by the aviation ministry argued that India’s open sky policy had not hurt the country’s interests. It pointed out that the share of Indian carriers’ in international traffic in and out of the country was 28.8% in 2005-06 and had gone up to 33.3% now.
While ASAs have traditionally been signed by the aviation ministry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted this to be brought to the Cabinet after it became controversial. Politicians from many parties like BJP and Left alleged that additional flying rights were given to ensure that Jet gets funding from Etihad. Senior CPI leader Gurudas Das Gupta had written to Singh, saying the Jet-Etihad deal “went through only because UAE was licensed to fly 37,000 additional seats to India every week... without these, Etihad was not interested in buying (a) portion of Jet.”
No comments:
Post a Comment