Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation Cracks Down on Airlines’ Rights to Unused Foreign Routes

Indian airlines will soon be asked to prove their intention to fly foreign routes or forfeit their route rights.

As competition for air traffic in India heats up, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation is tasking their international carriers to either fly more or give up their unused rights. The Economic Times reports the ministry is giving the nation’s three international carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and SpiceJet — six months to prove their intention to fly routes they hold the rights to.

Under current regulations, the three carriers are allowed to hold rights to international routes for up to three years. If a carrier stated intention to fly a route, it would be allowed to keep said route’s rights. However, the Ministry of Civil Aviation claims India’s three international airlines are only using 35 percent of their entitled routes.

As a result, the Ministry is evaluating all of the routes currently held by the three Indian carriers. The airlines will be tasked with either utilizing those routes or relinquish them in the next six months.

“Rights to fly to Middle Eastern countries are being sought by a few carriers like Jet Airways and IndiGo,” an unidentified Civil Aviation Ministry representative told Times. “But we have allocated almost all to carriers that are not utilizing it. We will call the airlines now and ask them to return those rights, if they cannot utilize within six months.”

The rule changes also extend to increasing international travel rights as well. Under a new policy, more Indian carriers will be allowed to fly internationally from airports in the developing nation.

According to the Ministry, international travel — especially to western Asian destinations — is on the rise. While 26 percent of the overall market is utilized by Indian carriers, 40 percent of bilateral rights are utilized by foreign carriers.

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