Willie Walsh and Pieter Elbers both addressed the issue of flying rights globally at the IATA Congress in Delhi. Mr Eibers shared: if one side makes a lot of noise, it doesn’t mean that the other side says, yeah, now we do it
Mr Walsh pointed out the growing connectivity opportunities in India, particularly commending Indigo Airlines for its domestic success.
Mr Walsh noted that, two to three years ago, India had fewer than 50 wide-body aircraft, which is surprising given its population of 1.45bn.
He mentioned that the situation is improving with new wide-body aircraft being added to both Indigo and Air India fleets.
Walsh asserted that as Indian carriers expand into new markets, there will be a need for policy changes to ensure access to international routes.
Willie Walsh shared: “Flying rights are an issue right across the world. It’s not unique to India. My own view has always been that India is looking at fantastic opportunity for growing its connectivity, not just domestically. I think it was one of the things we have commented on previously when we look, I think, two, maybe three years ago, there were less than 50 wide-body aircraft based in India. That’s now being corrected with the addition of new wide-body aircraft to both the Indigo fleet and the Air India fleet. As we see the expansion of the carriers in India accessing new markets, you will have to see a corresponding change to the approach for access.”
Pieter Elbers shared; Let me give a few observations here. First of all, it’s called the bilateral agreement, that means two sides have to agree on something. And if one side makes more and more noise, it doesn’t mean that you’re more and more right. It’s a bilateral agreement, and that means that the two sides have to agree on what’s the benefit for both sides. And if one side makes a lot of noise, it doesn’t mean that the other side says, yeah, now we do it.
There’s quite a few recent changes in bilateral agreements. I think the government of India stepped forward, made a couple of new air service agreements with different countries in different parts of the world. And so I would disagree with your bordering protectionism statement. I think the government of India has made quite a few new bilateral agreements with countries in the region. Historically, a lot of countries had flying rights to India were using these flying rights, where Indian operators were not using these flying rights. I think that should be taken into consideration as well. It would be my third point here. And there were a massive number of flights into India, and no operations by Indian operators. So for a government to look at that and to say, first, let’s use the existing pool of traffic rides. And when the existing pool is being exhausted, go to new traffic rides. I think it’s a completely fair and balanced approach in that. And again, I would invite you to look at all the recent agreements which would be made. There’s quite a few agreements being made on expansion of those traffic rights
