The civil aviation ministry has proposed that domestic Indian carriers as well as other international airlines should be allowed to operate on routes where the bilaterals signed between India and countries including Russia, USA, Germany and UK have been lying unused for three years continuously.
About 55-60 per cent of the bilaterals remain unused due to unavailability of aircraft with Air-India.
The first right of refusal, however, will be retained with the national carriers, top government officials told Business Standard.
As a result, while Indian Airlines could be permitted to fly to Europe and America, international airlines including Emirates and Singapore International Airlines (SIA) that have even offered to pay rents, could operate Air-India
