Grant of extra flying seats to Dubai draws flak

Mumbai: India’s decision to grant additional 20 per cent increase in the weekly entitlements to Dubai to 65,200 seats has evoked criticism.
“This is another example of very ad hoc manner of allocating bilaterals, which is completely delinked to national goals and interests. India is increasingly outsourcing its international traffic to Middle East countries. This has strategic implications,” Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said.

“Bilaterals are national assets and allocation should be only driven by a well structured Cabinet-approved policy and not driven by under-prepared and non-transparent methods that remain in practice since 2004. CAPA firmly believes that such decisions should have been left to the new government. India’s aviation strategy is, at present, against national interests,” Mr. Kaul said. According to analysts, India should not open up just because the UAE or Middle East carriers are expanding. The move would adversely affect Indian airlines, they said.
Read news in full 28/02/14 The Hindu