Air India loses exclusive rights over international flights

• Air India would no longer enjoy exclusive privilege over all bilateral air traffic rights with foreign countries as the government has decided to allow all Indian carriers to use these rights.
• As Air India had since inception continued to enjoy exclusive right (right of first refusal) over foreign routes due to its historic monopoly over foreign routes, private airlines could operate only when the national carrier said it would not operate on them.As a result, several routes and flying slots remained unutilised.
• The civil aviation ministry has now decided to allow all scheduled Indian carriers, including Air India, to utilise allocated bilaterals till they reach the maximum permissible limit under air service agreements (ASAs) with various countries
• The ASAs fix the maximum number of flights or seats to be operated by designated carriers of both countries each week.
• In Europe, Indian carriers use less than 10 per cent of the allowed capacity, leaving up to 90 per cent of the market share to foreign carriers. Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher fly to France and Germany and no one flies to Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland.