NEW DELHI: Airlines' grouping FIA has asked the civil aviation ministry not to allow the UAE carriers to operate additional flights to India, saying such a move would vitiate the level playing field.
Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are part of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) that has been raising concerns over Gulf carriers cornering a major chunk of air traffic from India.
"Any request from the UAE carriers to operate additional flights to/ from Kerala should not be acceded to and the level playing field be maintained," the grouping said in a letter to the ministry.
The letter said that dumping of capacity in the peak season would come at the cost of Indian carriers. Such a situation would impact not only the profitability but also the sustainability of the domestic carriers' operations on the Kerala-Dubai routes, it said, adding that revenues and profits earned in the peak season sustain their operations in the lean periods.
"We have learnt from the travel trade in Dubai that Emirates and flydubai plan to operate additional flights to Kerala in the months of August and September 2017, ostensibly to cater to peak season traffic," the letter, dated July 20, said.
Currently, carriers of Dubai have a large number of aircraft lying idle due to economic downturn in the Middle East and withdrawal of multiple flights between Dubai and Qatar, it noted. Against this backdrop, the FIA said these airlines want to tap the peak traffic in August and September, "vitiating the level playing field between the carriers of both sides".
Noting that the UAE carriers should not be allowed to operate additional flights in excess of their capacity entitlements, the FIA said airlines from both sides are already utilising the entitlements fully, deploying in excess of 1,30,000 seats per week in each direction between India and Dubai.