Ban on A380 Service Stays

Saturday, 23rd March 2013 at 03:17am

Travelers to and out of India still can't get a flight aboard a A380 jumbo aircraft as the Indian government keeps its earlier decision to ban any aircraft larger than B747 on all its airports.

The Dubai-based Emirates earlier applied for a permit from the Indian government to offer service to India using one of its A380 jumbo jets. But its application was rejected outright citing economic reasons.

The Indian government has a current policy that disallows foreign airlines to serve the country using aircraft any bigger than a Boeing 747.

The government defends its policy by stating that it is merely helping its home-grown carriers from going out of business once foreign-based airlines lure travelers with their bigger aircraft.

The ban was already enforced since May 2008 long before Emirate's application.

Tim Clark, Emirates President, sounded disappointed with the Indian government and found the ban ridiculous saying that their extensive network would have offered their customers easy connections via Dubai to many destinations beyond the reach of most Indian airlines.

He further said that they have presented their network expansion plans in the country to the Indian government.

He also disclosed that India and the United Arab Emirates have scheduled bilateral talks on air services agreement that would hopefully resolve the issue.

Mr. Clark noted that Indian airlines, in general, have grown business, without giving details to support his claim. Kingfisher, once India's second largest airline, has folded up late last year following its failure to renew its license.

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