India to seek airport slots for its airlines abroad

India will make availability of airport slots for its airlines part of bilateral seat-sharing talks with other nations. Indian airlines have complained about lack of preferred slots in busy airports like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "There is a consensus in the ministry that we need to be more vocal about our carriers," said an official in the civil aviation ministry.

Indian airlines complain not having slots in foreign airports hampers their scheduling, curbing the viability of overseas operations.

"Dubai is a slot-constrained airport and our airlines have spoken about difficulties in getting slots there. This issue will be a part of the bilateral discussions we have with Dubai," Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey told a newspaper on Thursday.

Dubai is seeking 50,000 additional seats to India. The government is inclined to allow more seats because Indian airlines had used 98 per cent of their quota by the end of June.

"India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world and all foreign carriers ask their governments to increase the seat share. We will play to our strength and seek conditions favourable to our airlines," the ministry official said. Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo offer 50 per cent fewer seats than foreign airlines operating in India. Indian airlines were offering 242,365 seats on flights to and from the country in June against 432,456 seats offered by foreign airlines.