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Govt keen to attract foreign airlines to new ports of call

In its bid to attract foreign airlines to the newly designated international airports across the country, the Civil Aviation Ministry is asking them to find new ports of call at airports in Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Madras.

The ministry, which is holding a series of negotiations with different countries on bilateral air traffic rights, is keen to attract more international flights to these cities instead of Delhi and Mumbai from where most foreign flights operate now, official sources said.

But some foreign airlines have expressed disenchantment at the offers saying this does not suit their commercial interests, the sources said.

"We not only have to make the new international airports viable, but also have to keep in mind the problems of international passengers from these regions who have to travel to Delhi or Bombay for further journey abroad," they said.

Besides, India's geographical situation was most suited for creation of large number of hubs for international flights, especially those criss-crossing between Europe and the US and east and Southeast Asia and Australia, they said.

Among the foreign airlines, which were not happy with the initial rounds of bilateral negotiations was Sri Lankan Airlines, according to a report from Colombo.

Official sources in the Sri Lankan capital said that a "difficult condition" laid down by the ministry had upset the government's plans to run regular flight services between Colombo and Varanasi to cater to the burgeoning demand from prospective pilgrims eager to visit the holy town.

At a bilateral meeting between a Sri Lankan delegation and Indian officials few days ago, the government of the island nation offered to operate to New Delhi but Indian officials insisted that the second city be Calcutta, the Sri Lankan sources said.

The discussions got bogged down over this, resulting in other matters like a service between Colombo and Bangalore and an increase in the total number of seats allotted to Sri Lanka as part of the bilateral agreement, not making any headway, the Lankan sources claimed.

Sri Lankan officials also wanted the present number of seats raised from 4000 to 6000 a week, as the demand was constantly rising, they added.

Sri Lankan Airlines operates flights from Colombo to Madras, New Delhi, Tiruchirappalli, Thiruvananthapuram and Bombay with an average of five flights a week on each sector.

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