Russian carrier Aeroflot which is currently operating limited
service to Delhi is all set to expand its operations in India by including five
more cities including Ahmedabad
Under the India-Russia bilateral
air service agreement, Russian carriers can operate flights to six points of
call or destinations in India
-- Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Goa and Amritsar. Indian airlines are
permitted to fly to six destinations in Russia, including Moscow and St.
Petersburg, according to Civil Aviation ministry.
The ministry has bent its regulation of not allowing a new point
of call to any foreign carrier for operating passenger service. Several
requests of foreign airlines to operate from south Indian cities including
Madurai have been cold shouldered by the ministry for several years.
At present, the Indian
government is not granting any non-metro airport as a new point of call to any
foreign carrier for operating passenger services. This is due to a "significant imbalance in the number of
points of call in favor of foreign carriers," as per the civil aviation
ministry.
India and Russia have "in principle" agreed to revise
their bilateral air services agreement whereby Russian carriers will be allowed
to operate as many as 64 weekly flights to various Indian cities, official
sources were quoted by media reports.
Under the existing agreement, Russia can operate up to 52 weekly
civilian flights to India. India has "in principle" agreed to
increase the number of weekly flights that Russian carriers can operate to
India to 64 from 52. In this regard, the bilateral air services agreement will
be amended soon.
Currently, Aeroflot is operating
seven weekly flights to India mostly to Delhi while no Indian airline is flying
to Russia. Earlier, Air India used to
operate flights to Moscow. Last month, an Indian delegation led by Civil
Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal visited Moscow for a meeting related to
bilateral cooperation in civil aviation. A protocol on cooperation in the civil
aviation sector was also formalized at the meeting on February 17, the civil
aviation ministry had said in a tweet.
The meeting, which was part of the ninth session of the
India-Russia Sub-Group on Cooperation in Civil Aviation, was chaired by Bansal
and Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Igor Chalik.
India has bilateral air services
agreements with around 116 countries.
Any designated airline of a foreign country can operate to/from a point in
India if it is designated as a point of call in the bilateral air services
agreement signed between India and the country concerned.