Friday, Sep 09, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai India’s national auditor yesterday said that Emirates and other Middle Eastern carriers should be forced to reduce the number of flights they operate to India in order to protect state-owned Air India.
“This is exactly the kind of opposition Emirates has received elsewhere. It is pure protectionism for home-market carriers that in some cases are weak and poorly run, which fits Air India’s description,” Scott Hamilton, a US-based aviation analyst with Leeham Company, told Gulf News.
The beleaguered Indian carrier has recently been under fire for mounting losses and deteriorating performance. In a report about Air India to the Indian parliament yesterday, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said Gulf-based carriers have “hurt Indian airlines by winning market share” on routes to Europe and the US, a Bloomberg report said yesterday.
Emirates has once again come under attack for aggressively expanding international operations. In recent years, the Dubai carrier has been caught up in a struggle to convince governments and flag carriers of various countries in order to expand its global footprint by gaining additional landing rights and frequencies in markets like Canada, Germany and Australia.
India is one of the most lucrative routes for Emirates and other Gulf carriers. Emirates alone operates 185 weekly flights to ten destinations in India, as per its July statistics.
The Indian auditor’s recommendations are not binding on the government.
By Shweta Jain ?Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
