India resists calls for more air access in drive to be global aviation force

Jet Airways (India)

22/03/2023 02:30

(Repeats MARCH 21 story. No change to text.)
    By Aditi Shah and Tim Hepher
       NEW DELHI, March 22 (Reuters) - India dampened foreign
airline hopes for more access to its airports on Tuesday, with
its aviation minister urging domestic carriers to fly long-haul
and help establish new hubs as it seeks to recapture control of
Indian travel from foreign rivals.
    It is also asking aerospace companies to step-up local
production and will soon finalise rules to safeguard rights of
lessors on repossession of jets, in a bid to level up with major
global aviation markets, Jyotiraditya Scindia told Reuters.
    "India is now at that inflection point," Scindia said during
an interview at his office in New Delhi.
    "We are going to see an explosion of air traffic in India in
the years to come," he said, adding he wanted domestic carriers
to look at international expansion with greater focus.
    The South Asian nation is one of the fastest-growing
aviation markets in the world where demand for air travel is
outstripping the supply of planes, but the bulk of international
traffic is captured by global carriers with efficient hubs.
    Now, India wants to harness these economic gains for itself
by boosting growth of its airlines and airports. 
    Air India last month placed a record order for 470 jets and
is making an aggressive push in the international market.
Domestic rival IndiGo is also in talks for a new order of more
than 500 planes, Reuters reported earlier this month, even as it
waits to take delivery of the same number from an older order.
    Scindia said India was not looking at increasing air traffic
quotas with Gulf states and instead wanted Indian carriers to
offer non-stop long haul flights on larger planes. He said Air
India's widebody plane order and IndiGo's twin-aisles to some
destinations were signs that "transition" had begun.
    India is also mobilising to handle the transportation needs
of its population of 1.3 billion by building new airports in the
country's remotest parts and expanding capacity at major ones.
    Domestic and international passenger traffic through six
major metro airports is expected to more than double to 420
million over the next five years and India's fleet is set to
grow to over 2,000 planes from 700 today, Scindia said.
    He is working with some airlines and Delhi airport to create
a hub and spoke model in the capital that will allow seamless
transition of passengers hopping off domestic flights and on to
their international connections and vice versa.
    "Today my hubs are in either the eastern border of my
country or the western border of my country. With the scale that
I have, I must create a hub within India," said Scindia.
    But even with hundreds of new planes on order, and India's
history of airline failures such as Kingfisher and Jet Airways,
Scindia said he was not concerned this would lead to any
oversupply because the country's economy, rapid urbanisation and
underpenetrated air travel market would support growth.
    "Earlier, airports and airplanes would only go to those
cities that presented a great economic growth story to make the
rationale for that investment. Today, it is airports and
airlines that are determining economic growth," said the
52-year-old minister. 
    "That whole paradigm has changed."

 (Reporting by Aditi Shah, Tim Hepher; Editing by Andrew Heavens
and Mark Potter)
 ((aditi.shah@tr.com; +91-11-4954 8023, +91-11-3015 8023;
Reuters Messaging: twitter: @aditishahsays))