Malaysia-based low-cost carrier (LCC) Air Asia is pushing for open skies rights for India. The issue is expected to come up for discussion in the meeting between the two governments on aviation bilaterals sometime this month.
“In the bilateral meeting, we will push for open skies for India, allowing us to connect any part of the country. India is a huge country and can become a huge market for us,” said a senior Air Asia executive, on the sidelines of the launch of the Delhi-Kuala Lumpur flight. Open skies is an international policy concept which calls for the liberalisation of rules and regulations on international aviation industry especially commercial aviation. The policy allows both sides to fly as many flights to each others countries subject to availability of airport capacity. India already has an open skies policy with the US.
At the launch ceremony, AirAsiaX Chief Executive Officer Azran Osman-Rani said they had exhausted the seats available to them. He added that though they did not have any plans to expand now, they would like to increase the number of flights from Mumbai and make it daily from four times a week now.
