Chances of Kuwait-Mangalore Direct Flights Recede
Daijiworld Media Network
Mangalore, Jun 20: There was some kind of assurance from Air India Express authorities to start a direct flight between Kuwait and Mangalore from mid-June 2007. But the latest cold war that has erupted between the two goverrments over bilateral airspace sharing has thrown cold water on the hopes of early introduction of Mangalore-Kuwait direct or connecting flights.
Barely had the Russian threat of not allowing Indian carriers to overfly its airspace died down, the government is now grappling with a similar warning from Kuwait. Sources said Indian ambassador to Kuwait has been told that airlines between the two countries may not fly from July 1. India is learnt to be offering a fresh round of bilateral talks so that the issue could be resolved without hitting air travel.
Kuwait Airways and Indian Airlines - and, low cost carriers - AI Express and Jazeera Airways - fly between the two countries. Sources said the dispute stems from the fact that Kuwait wants to operate more flights to India. "One of its airline operates via Dubai. Now increasing those flights is in a way against the bilateral signed for flights between India and Kuwait. Giving more capacity for Dubai on its carrier will also hurt Indian carriers," said the source.
Jazeera Airways uses Dubai as its second base. The aviation ministry is preparing a report on this issue. The government will offer a fresh round of talks to sort out the issue. The government is "cautiously optimistic" about resolving the crisis otherwise flying between India and Kuwait would mean taking a stopover in some other Gulf state.
In the past two months India has faced similar threats from Russia and Malaysia. While Russia threatened Indian carriers - AI and Jet - would not be be allowed to overfly its airspace, Malaysia was reportedly not forthcoming in allowing AI Express and Sahara to fly to Kuala Lumpur.
The issue with Russia was resolved last week with India allowing it to operate more flights to Amritsar. This happened after India acted tough and asked Russian carriers to stop flying in. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Kanu Gohain had made it clear that strong reciprocal action would have followed if the deadline for overflying was not extended as per existing bilateral agreements.
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