‘Flights slotted by IATA guidelines’
dubai — In the latest news in a long-simmering dispute, Dubai Airports has “cleared the air” over what it called “inaccurate reports” related to slot allocation for Indian carriers at Dubai International Airport (DXB).
Earlier this year, India’s aviation ministry had asked Dubai to ensure that DXB gives enough slots to Indian carriers after complaints they weren’t getting enough. In November, Indian media reported that Dubai had denied the request.
Following requests from Indian airlines, the Indian government sort a commitment to providing desired slots to its carriers before agreeing to any increase in flying entitlements. Both India and Dubai have exhausted the current quota, which allows airlines to operate 65,200 weekly seats. Dubai, for its part, has sought to expand air traffic by requesting an additional 50,000 seats.
In August, India’s Business Standard noted that additional seats would benefit Emirates Airline, and quoted Ahmed Khoory, Emirates Senior VP for commercial operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean, as saying that: “We have 10 cities in India and are trying to expand as much as we can. With the limited seat capacity, we are very much restricted today to these ten points. If the bilateral agreement goes through, we can gain seats and we can cover most of the points in India. Our objective is to cover as much as we can.”
“It’s important to understand that the assignment of traffic rights via bilateral agreements and slot allocation are two processes’” explained Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports. “Traffic rights are negotiated between governments. Slot allocation is managed separately by an independent organisation at arm’s length and in accordance with international guidelines established by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).”
In Dubai’s case, according to Griffiths, Dubai’s international slots are allocated by an independent slot coordinator, Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) in accordance with IATA guidelines. ACL conducts slot allocation activities at several other major international airports.
“Dubai International is the busiest airport for international passenger traffic in the world, with 90 carriers connecting the airport to more than 240 global destinations with high demand for a limited supply of slots,” added Griffiths. “We welcome the expansion of the flying rights between India and Dubai. Despite the competitive slot situation, Indian carriers continue to grow services, operating more frequencies than Dubai-based airlines between Dubai and India. There is clearly demand for more seats and we are confident that the airlines will take up more seat capacity, if agreed by Dubai and India.”
On Thursday, Emirates declined to comment on the matter, noting that the statement from Dubai Airports was “representative of Dubai’s aviation ecosystem.”
Flydubai, for its part, noted that “India is an important market for flydubai and we work within the bilateral agreement discussed at a government level.”
bernd@khaleejtimes.com
65,200 weekly seats is the current quota of allotment between India and Dubai