In other words, carriers of all manner and hue are cashing in and flying Indian passengers from what can now only be described as nooks and crannies of India. Many of the airlines are quite unknown to passengers or even the authorities in India.
Several are less than five years old in their own countries. Indeed, in many cases, there is no real system of verifying the airlines’ ownership structures, credentials or back-end facilities or systems.
That's why I am quite amazed at the stubborn stance taken by Indian policymakers that scheduled domestic carriers in India must complete at least five years of flying within the country before they fly overseas.
In fact, in May, Kingfisher Airlines is expected to take delivery of some of its wide-bodied aircraft which they had expected to deploy on international routes. Chairman Vijay Mallya had probably banked on getting the Indian authorities to change their mind on this rather illogical stipulation but met too much political resistance.
Till August, he's likely to use the aircraft on domestic routes, which is quite an expensive proposition. After August, he's expected to get some kind of clearance to fly through the merger with Deccan, the workings of which no one quite understands. Similarly, the Kerala government has been pushing for permission to set up an airline to fly to the Gulf.
Image: Vijay Mallya (L), chairman of UB Group and Air Deccan chief G.R. Gopinath | Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
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