Open skies fail to thrill western carriers

Bangalore: Like every year, the government is considering throwing open its skies to foreign carriers between November and February this year, too. But, not every overseas carrier is thrilled about the opportunity.
This is because some international sectors already have capacities more than the current market growth, so carriers would wait for the excess capacity to fill up before they take a call on upping their flight frequency.
Another reason is that route rationalisation on a medium-haul flight is easier than long-haul flights.
Also, the international traffic into and out of India is skewed towards the Middle East and South East Asia. According to figures available with Amedeus, around 40% of the overseas traffic is into the Middle East, 35% into South East Asia and the remaining 25% is to Europe and the US.
26/09/06 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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