The Hindu Business Line : British airlines may look at more flights to South

THE long-pending bilateral air services talks between India and the UK, which are scheduled to begin here on January 27, could see airlines from the UK offering more flights to cities in the southern region such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Official sources told Business Line that during the two-day India-UK bilateral air services talks, the issue of the designated airlines of Britain being allowed to not only increase the frequency of flights being operated but also operate flights to new "points of call" in south India is likely to be raised.

The last round of air services bilateral between India and the UK were held in June 2002.

However, sources were categorical in stating that any increase in number of flights to the existing Indian cities or to new cities here will not necessarily go to British Airways (BA). "The British Government believes in competition in every sector. Besides, there are three designated airlines in the UK - BA, Virgin Atlantic Airways and British Midlands. So it will be difficult to say just yet who will really benefit from the successful outcome of the bilateral talks," sources said.

The Indian side for the talks is to be led by the Secretary, Civil Aviation, Mr K.R. Roy Paul, while a senior British official is expected to lead the UK delegation.

However, sources were tight-lipped and declined to speculate on whether the talks would break down if India failed to get proper slots at the Heathrow airport at London. The Indian side has all along maintained that the airlines from India should be given proper slots at Heathrow as otherwise, it would not be worthwhile to have bilateral air services talks with Britain.

A key factor in the talks being scheduled is said to have been the pressure put by the expatriate population in the UK, which is keen to have more direct flights to India. "The expatriate community has often expressed reservation about having to travel to India either through the Gulf region or some other third point," sources said.

While BA operates 19 weekly flights to India, including offering a daily flight to both Delhi and Mumbai, Virgin Atlantic increased the number of its weekly flights to three from October last year.