New Delhi: The Adani Airports Holdings Ltd has urged the Modi administration to expand international flying rights, calling it crucial to ‘transforming Indian airports into global hubs’, The Wire reported citing Economic Times.
The group, which operates eight airports across India, looks for expansion of international flying rights under bilateral agreements with countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The group’s call for flying right comes as Air India reportedly made it clear that opening India’s skies to overseas airlines could expose it to ‘unfair competition’ from cash-rich carriers in West Asia.
Economic Times reported citing documents that Adani Group had told the government that allowing more capacity would turn Mumbai into a global aviation hub.
Jeet Adani, director of Adani Airport Holdings, is quoted as saying that the Adani Group has plans to shell out by 2030 $11.1 billion on terminals, runways and aircraft handling facilities and passenger amenities.
Meanwhile, an unnamed official of the Group reportedly said that ‘Increasing access and options for passengers is a crucial aspect of transforming Indian airports into global hubs, and that should not just depend on when Indian airlines are ready to compete.’
The official said that not opening up international flying rights would be a ‘criminal waste of assets’, adding that it would also be tantamount to ‘penalising’ Indian customers from having to pay higher prices due to lack of flights.
However, India’s National Civil Aviation Policy of 2016 emphasized that additional flying rights would not be granted to overseas carriers unless utilization by Indian side reached 80 per cent.