(a) whether attention of the Government has been drawn to the newsitem captioned `unutilised bilateral rights to be pivot of AI, IA selloff` appearing in the Economic Times dated June 13, 2000;
(b) if so, whether the rights of flights availed of by the Air India and the Indian Airlines are not being utilized at the International level; and
(c) if so, the period from which these airlines are deprived of these rights and the estimated financial loss suffered as a result thereof?
THE MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION (SHRI SHARAD YADAV)
(a): Yes, Sir.
(b): At present Air India and Indian Airlines together are
utilising about 39% of the existing traffic rights available
to them under various Air Services Agreements.
(c): The utilisation of available traffic rights is a
matter of commercial judgement of the national carriers who
decide the operations keeping in view the traffic demand,
available aircraft capacity etc. No financial loss can
therefore be estimated on this account.