Indian carriers accuse Emirates, flydubai of violating bilateral agreement

The two Dubai carriers are flying 10,000 more seats than allowed in agreement

Indian airlines have complained that Gulf airlines are flying more seats into the country than allowed under the bilateral treaty between the two countries. The aviation ministry has asked the regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to inspect the claim following which the ministry can take action. This comes amidst negotiations to increase seat entitlements of Dubai. Documents reviewed by Business Standard shows that Indian airlines have alleged Gulf airlines of flying 5,000 excess seats per week in each direction, which is a violation of the bilateral agreement.

"Based on schedules published in Innovata, which is a global flight schedule database, capacity deployed by designated airlines of Dubai to and from India has been much in excess of 66,504 seats even after including the 2 per cent flexibility since November 2014, even though their schedule filing with the Indian DGCA has been that," the letter sent by the airline said. Business Standard has reviewed a copy of the letter. Following this other private airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir under the umbrella of Federation of Indian Airlines also backed the claim. When approached, Jet Airways declined to comment on the issue. While the Dubai civil aviation authority (DCAA) did not reply to a detailed questionnaire, Emirates and flydubai denied accusations.

"Emirates is operating within its overall capacity entitlement under the India-Dubai air services arrangements. Emirates' schedule has been approved by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and Emirates is operating in accordance with this approval" an airline spokesperson said. "This is not the case, flydubai denies any violation," said a flydubai spokeswoman.

When Business Standard approached Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey, he said that there has been a similar complaint from Dubai's side that Indian carriers are flying more than allowed seats. "These issues will soon be addressed when the next round of bilateral talks happen," Choubey said.

A senior civil aviation ministry official said objection from Indian airlines started after the DCAA turned down Jet Airways proposed flight on Trivandrum-Dubai route in the ongoing summer schedule despite the airline having a slot at Dubai airport. According to a note sent by the Dubai authorities, "the additional seat demand was in violation of the seat entitlements as the airline was already flying its full allocation of 13,006 seats." The private then wrote to the civil aviation ministry that the designated airlines of Dubai- are flying excess seats.

The seat allocation between India and gulf countries have always been a contentious issue with Indian airlines often complaining that it is pitted against them. The federal auditor Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2011 report pointed out that the government is increasing the seat entitlement to Gulf even though Indian airlines were struggling for slots at Dubai airport

The UPA government increased Dubai's allocation from 10,400 seats a week to six cities of India in 2003-04 to 54,200 seats a week to 14 cities by 2008-09. Currently, both the country's designated carriers can operate 63,000 seats per week. Both the countries have now exhausted their quota and negotiations are on for increasing seat entitlements.