India rejected the request from United Arab Emirates (UAE) to add 50,000 additional weekly seats to the bilateral agreement to meet the growing demand for flights between the two countries. However, India confirmed that it will not comply with the request, alleging the need to protect its national airlines.
The decision is a setback for the Emirati airlines, which have been consistently expanding their operations in India in recent years. Emirates, Etihad and Flydubai currently operate a combined total of around 400 weekly flights.
Currently, the bilateral agreement between India and the UAE allows for 107,518 seats per week. The agreement allows Indian airlines to operate 40,446 weekly seats to the UAE, while UAE airlines can operate 67,072 weekly seats to India. The agreement also allows for unlimited cargo operations between the two countries.
According to the 2022 statistics, 6.4 million passengers traveled from the UAE to India, while around 3.3 million passengers traveled in the opposite direction. This makes the UAE one of the largest sources of air traffic to India, accounting for around 10% of all international traffic.
The United Arab Emirates is also a major transit hub for passengers traveling between India and other parts of the world. The Indian Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said in an interview with Reuters that “we are not contemplating an increase at this time.”
The Indian aviation market has revived after the pandemic, and the return of Air India with the economic backing of the Tata Group aims to dramatically increase domestic and international offerings with national operators.
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Jet Airways is also preparing an order for more than two hundred aircraft, and the rest of the operators maintain or increase their fleet plans in the medium term. In this context, the Indian government’s rejection was expected.
