cyrilroy21
12th Aug 2013, 06:34
Cash-rich Qatar Airways is keen on a tie-up with the country's low-cost carrier GoAir as it does not want to be left behind archrival Etihad in the race for bilateral traffic rights, which provide Gulf carriers access to the huge Indian aviation market.
GoAir is expected to get approval to fly outside India sometime this year gaining access to a substantial share of bilateral traffic rights, a top government official said.
With close to 80,000 more seats per week still available with the government for bilateral traffic rights for Gulf destinations, civil aviation ministry sources said that a good share of these seats could go to GoAir. According to sources, GoAir and Qatar Airways representatives have sounded ministry officials on the issue in informal discussions held at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.
Kuwait Airways is also interested in the Indian market but Qatar Airways is better placed to strike a deal because of its stronger financial clout and support of Qatar's powerful former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The government gave away 36,670 seats to Jet Airways recently while Emirates was earlier given 54,200 seats per week and is now seeking another 26,000 seats. Qatar Airways has a mar-ket share of 4.4 per cent in India with bilateral traffic rights of 24,000 seats per week, which it wants enhanced to 72,000 seats a week.
A top government official told Mail Today that Qatar Airways has been promised a better deal after the former Emir had expressed his displeasure to finance minis-ter P. Chidambaram over the Jet-Etihad deal during his visit to Qatar on May 18-19.
Subsequently, Chidambaram wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Qatar, which is India's energy partner, could be hit if the Jet-Etihad deal is not reviewed.
The government is worried over the fate of massive investment committed by Qatar in India's energy projects. Qatar has committed to reinvest $3 billion each year in India from its crude oil and LNG sales earnings.
Indian airlines and airports fear losing business out to Gulf carriers especially because almost 40 per cent of outbound Indian fliers travel to the western part of the world through the Middle East.
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/qatar-airways-keen-on-a-tie-up-with-goair/1/197686.html
GoAir is expected to get approval to fly outside India sometime this year gaining access to a substantial share of bilateral traffic rights, a top government official said.
With close to 80,000 more seats per week still available with the government for bilateral traffic rights for Gulf destinations, civil aviation ministry sources said that a good share of these seats could go to GoAir. According to sources, GoAir and Qatar Airways representatives have sounded ministry officials on the issue in informal discussions held at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.
Kuwait Airways is also interested in the Indian market but Qatar Airways is better placed to strike a deal because of its stronger financial clout and support of Qatar's powerful former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The government gave away 36,670 seats to Jet Airways recently while Emirates was earlier given 54,200 seats per week and is now seeking another 26,000 seats. Qatar Airways has a mar-ket share of 4.4 per cent in India with bilateral traffic rights of 24,000 seats per week, which it wants enhanced to 72,000 seats a week.
A top government official told Mail Today that Qatar Airways has been promised a better deal after the former Emir had expressed his displeasure to finance minis-ter P. Chidambaram over the Jet-Etihad deal during his visit to Qatar on May 18-19.
Subsequently, Chidambaram wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Qatar, which is India's energy partner, could be hit if the Jet-Etihad deal is not reviewed.
The government is worried over the fate of massive investment committed by Qatar in India's energy projects. Qatar has committed to reinvest $3 billion each year in India from its crude oil and LNG sales earnings.
Indian airlines and airports fear losing business out to Gulf carriers especially because almost 40 per cent of outbound Indian fliers travel to the western part of the world through the Middle East.
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/qatar-airways-keen-on-a-tie-up-with-goair/1/197686.html