Giving permission to Indian carriers to fly abroad on routes that Jet Airways flew before it temporarily shut operations on April 17 has run into trouble with IndiGo expressing “dissatisfaction” with the allocations. The Delhi-based low-cost airline has said that proper procedures were not followed in allocating Jet’s routes to the other airlines .
Sources said that IndiGo has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation saying that the allocations have been done in an arbitrary manner.
While many in the industry say that the allocation of Jet’s international flying rights to other airlines has been done on the basis of how many flights an airline operates in the domestic skies and how many more aircraft it is planning to induct, IndiGo has contested this point. The government is clear that international flying rights for Indian carriers should not be at the cost of domestic air connectivity.
Meanwhile, Vistara will start its international operations in September-October. The airline has been given permission to operate 28 weekly flights, including a daily service from India to Bangkok and Dubai and 14 services a week from India to Singapore. IndiGo has been allowed to operate 84 additional international flights a week and is likely to launch additional flights linking Bangkok, Dubai, Doha, Dhaka and Kuwait.
When contacted both Vistara and IndiGo declined to comment.
SpiceJet is said to have been allowed to operate an additional 77 weekly international flights while GoAir is said to have been allowed to operate over 30 more weekly international flights.