In a move that is likely to make it more difficult for Kingfisher Airlines to restart operations, the Centre today withdrew all international operation slots given to the airline.
These slots — the scheduled time of arrival/departure made available to an airline to operate regular flights — are to be distributed among other airlines.
This will result in other domestic airlines operating more flights to Dhaka, Kathmandu, Colombo, London, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Hong Kong . The latest move allows domestic airlines to offer 25,000 more seats to these international destinations.
Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetKonnect, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express, SpiceJet and IndiGo will be the prime beneficiaries. Currently, the Government looks at how many international flights an airline operates and the aircraft it flies before deciding on allotting more routes.
Kingfisher Airlines, which ceased operations on October 1 last year, used to offer 140 weekly flights to these destinations from various cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The airline curtailed its international operations in March last year.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also been asked to provide to other airlines the domestic slots vacated by Kingfisher. “Since Kingfisher Airlines was neither making use of the slots nor paying charges to the AAI, it was decided that these should be given to other airlines. In some cities like Pune, Kingfisher slots have already been given to others,” a senior Government official said.