Low cost airline Air Arabia, which flies 112 weekly flights to 13 Indian cities from Sharjah, has urged the Centre to grant it more capacity so that it can fly to more cities here offering low fares to workers employed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“We would like to go to 13 more Indian cities, which do not have an international airport now. But, will eventually have one. But there are limitations. We want more capacity through bilateral reciprocity. Our airports in UAE are open to receive as many Indian carriers as India wants. But India should respond,” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer and board member, Air Arabia.
“We have not grown in India since past five years because we have no more capacity granted to us. In fact, some capacity has been taken away. The cap on Air Arabia’s growth in India is no good for us but it is not good for the Indian public as well. We have seen people’s lives changing wherever we fly. Ten years ago when we flew to Nagpur, nobody was flying there. Now you see the change. We want to go to airports where nobody goes, but grant us capacity,” he added.
Air Arabia has also sought an explanation from the government on the reason behind rejection of its right to fly to Calicut from Ras al-Khaimah.
India had granted permission to RAK Airways, the designated carrier of Ras al-Khaimah to operate a daily flight to Calicut (Kozhikode) but the airline closed down on January 1, 2014. In May 2014 Air Arabia started operations from Ras al-Khaimah and as designated airline wanted to utilize RAK’s right to fly the route but India rejected it.
“Since May last year India has refused to accept that route (Ras al-Khaimah- Calicut) for Air Arabia. We operate four airports in Pakistan and more to the Gulf, using RAK Airways’ rights. So long as an airline is the designated carrier, it should be allowed to fly. But Air Arabia was specifically told not to exercise that right. No reason has been given. They are continuing to refuse. We tried at all levels but have only seen rejection,” Mr Ali told The Hindu in an interview.
“We feel it is unlike the Indian authorities. If they do not want to, then they must explain the reason. We just find blank rejection without any justified reason,” he added.
Mr Ali said that Air Arabia was keen to invest in an airline in India but would wait for the right opportunity.
