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In strong defense of its decision to enhance the number of seats under the India-Abu Dhabi bilateral air services agreement the civil aviation ministry, in a note to the cabinet secretariat and key ministries, has said that there no additional points of call has been allowed to UAE in India apart from the existing 11 it is allowed to fly under the new memorandum of understanding.
The UAE had asked for rights to fly to 38 cities within India during negotiations.
It has also clarified that an air services agreement between India and UAE was signed on 21st March 1989 and a new MOU was initiated way back on 5 February 2008. So no new air services agreement has been signed between the two countries recently.
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Allying fears expressed by senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh and Janta Party President Subramanian Swamy that the enhancement of seats is fruight with national security risk, MoCA said no amendment has been made in the security clause in the new MOU signed between the two countries.
The defense comes after the ministry signed an MoU with the UAE in April this year to enhance the number of seats between the two countries from 13,300 a week to 50,000 a week on the same day when Etihad Airways announced it was picking up a 24% stake in Jet Airways.
The huge expansion in the bilateral rights has sparked off controversy in political circles who have cited security concerns and the shift of operational control in Indian carriers to foreign airlines for a reconsideration of the traffic rights allotted to UAE.
They had also raised questions on if a foreign airline in aloowed to invest in Indian carriers, in case of national emergency whether these airlines would be amenable to being treated as second line carriers by the Air Force as is the practice. The Prime Minister’s Office has now asked the ministry to prepare a cabinet note for post-facto approval of the agreement.
In its note, which has been sent also to the secretaries in the ministry of home affairs, economic affairs, commerce and industry, corporate affairs, defence and the PMO, the administrative ministry has argued that there are enough safeguards incorporated in the policy against any security threat from foreign airlines.
For instance under the air defence clearance mechanism a foreign airlines entering Indian air space has to comply with air defence clearance rules which stipulate it cannot fly over civil and military air space in India or enter the air defence identification zones without clearances.
Besides, there are checks and balances in place in the existant FDI policy, which restricts foreign carriers buying equity in Indian domestic carriers from shifting the principal place of business out of India.
All foreign nationals likely to be associated with the Indian carrier has to be security cleared. All technical equipment which is being imported require clearance from the relevant authority. Also every chairman and director requires security clearance before his employment. The position of CEO/CFO/COO if held by foreign nationals would have to be vetted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The note also states that since FDI by foreign carriers in Indian airlines is capped at 49%, the substantial ownership and the effective control would remain with Indian nationals. The liability of the airline in instance of national emergency would not alter even after FDI infusion.
