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After allowing Emirates to fly the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet under the revised bilateral air services agreement inked with Dubai (United Arab Emirates or UAE) on Wednesday, the civil aviation ministry is set to rework arrangements with Singapore and Germany.
According to a ministry senior, while the number of seats entitled to Singapore would not be increased immediately, the agreement currently barring Singapore Airlines from operating the jet in India could be amended. The person said for Germany, with which bilateral traffic entitlements are based on the number of flights allowed in a week, the agreement will be revised to express the numbers of seats available weekly, before allowing Lufthansa to fly A380s to India.
“Singapore Airlines has made a representation to operate A380s to India,” the official said. Singapore Airlines flies 19 A380s to Australia, Europe, the US and Hong Kong. It has ordered five more A380s.
“As bilateral negotiations are a political function between the governments of Singapore and India, Singapore Airlines has no direct involvement. However, we are aware the aviation ministry will be reviewing the current bilateral that does not include A380 operations between India and Singapore. Further to this amendment, depending on the availability of resources and rights, we will evaluate launching A380 services to India,” said David Lau, India general manager.
India’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore last year cut number of seats a week in each direction for both countries, with a cap for Singapore on each route. It also increased capacity entitlement by a tenth — India is allowed 29,400 weekly seats and Singapore 28,700. No additional points of call were given to Singapore despite the city-state asking for these in Pune (Maharashtra) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu). The common pool rights to the extent of 5,160 seats earlier available to Singapore, giving greater flexibility to its airlines in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, have been withdrawn. The designated airlines of Singapore can operate with any aircraft type except A380, MoU said. On Wednesday, the government allowed 11,000 seats more to Dubai in three phases till the summer schedule of next year.
Aviation consultant Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said, “Bilateral requirement of foreign airlines after the grant of 11,000 seats to Dubai stand at 150,000 to 175,000 seats over the next three years. This includes requirements of airlines in Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar and the UAE.” As much as 130,000 seats are required by West Asian airlines in three years, half of these being demanded by airlines based in the UAE.
