Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
- More number of seats on offer
- Currently, only Air India operates between India and Dubai.
New Delhi, May 20: The proposal of Jet Airways, JetLite and Air Deccan to operate flights to Dubai is likely to get the official nod soon.
Official sources told Business Line that with an increase in the number of seats on offer between India and Dubai, the requests of all the airlines for rights to operate are likely to be cleared.
Bilateral rights between the two countries were recently exchanged in sufficient numbers, paving the way for all the private airlines seeking to operate on this route.
Currently, only Air India operates between India and Dubai.
The airlines are likely to be permitted to fly to Dubai as per the schedules they had filed.
Hence, some flights will start almost immediately while others will follow during the winter schedule this October, followed by increase in frequency during the summer schedule in March next year.
Await final nod
The final clearance is pending with the “highest competent” authority, sources added.
It is only after the Ministry of Civil Aviation gives the final clearance that the airlines would be allowed to operate.
The airlines will, however, have to meet the operational requirements laid down by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before receiving clearance to fly to Dubai.
Flight plans
While Jet Airways has sought permission to operate 56 weekly services including a daily service from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai by July this year, it also sought permission to increase the frequency of the Mumbai flight to two times a day daily from October next year.
It also plans to start a daily flight from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Bangalore from October next year.
The low-cost airline Air Deccan, which plans to operate 70 weekly flights to Dubai, has sought permission to launch a twice-a-day flight from Mumbai from summer this year.
In addition, it plans a daily service from Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi.
The airline also plans a daily flight from Chennai, Goa, Mangalore and Pune during the winter schedule 2008.
JetLite has sought permission to operate 28 weekly flightsfrom Jaipur, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Nagpur.