Originally Posted by
oliver2002
AI sold their rights on the bilaterals to Switzerland and Austria for cash, just to give an example. So in order to be on the nice side of AI you had to offer some nice things. Same goes for the concessions LH made to allow AI use of FRA as a hub to north america.
Times are changing rapidly and I'm sure LH is confident enough to cut some cords, especially since alliances with AI are not helping to stop the gulf carriers steal market share to north america and europe.
It doesn't make sense for SQ or EK to use their flagship A380s into India. For such short haul hub connections they rather use high lift high density configs like the 772.
Getting more bi-lateral rights in India is going to be tough now. The Govt is in the midst of scams and certain sections of the media have reported that the previous minister of civil aviation sold/benefited by giving away bi-laterals to foreign carriers while the Indian carriers couldn't utilize their quota partly due to the ridiculous rules like airlines should complete 5yrs and have 20 aircraft to be eligible for Intl Ops. The current minister has also said the Govt. is rethinking about the bi-laterals. So getting additional capacity for the gulf/European carriers is going to be difficult.
EK has been pleading with the GoI for a long time now to get the permit to fly the A380 to India. In fact EK was the first airline to show interest in operating the A380 to India. India is probably EKs biggest market and they would love to operate their flagship aircraft to Indian cities if given a chance.