Virgin Atlantic Chief Richard Branson "" the airlines which started its services to India in 2000 "" is intensely lobbying with New Delhi for permission to operate on the domestic routes, where traffic growth is over 30 per cent. |
Branson, who is accompanying British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, met Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath twice on this tour and renewed his proposal to enter the domestic aviation sector that is closed to foreigners. Branson said, he spent 15 years "lobbying in trying to get international flights to and from India." |
Virgin Atlantic, which operates London-Delhi flights, plans to induct the largest aircraft A380 in the Indian sector over the three |
The flamboyant industrialist, whose business interests include aviation, telecom and railway, said he will be back in the next three weeks to make big announcements on his different Indian ventures, including telecom. |
Without giving details on his India telecom plans, he said: "Negotiations are at a very advanced stage." |
He said consolidation among the private airlines has already begun in India. Branson listed Indian carrier Jet Airways as his close competitor. |
"Jet Airways, I suspect it is the best airline in India and we will do our best to make sure Virgin India even better." |
He asked the government not to put protectionist rules to prohibit businesses from operating in each other's country. |
"If we can get these rules removed Virgin can do a lot more. Under the existing policy vetted by a group of ministers (GoM), foreign countries are not allowed to own any equity stake in the domestic airlines," he added. |