Jet Airways crisis: SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir object to formula distributing foreign flying rights of grounded airline

Several airlines have reportedly objected the formula for distributing the foreign flying rights of the grounded Jet Airways, a media report said.

Jet Airways is expected to get about half of the rights on high-demand routes and the remaining would be given out in proportion to a carrier’s domestic flights, The Economic Times said. This would mean IndiGo is likely to get the most since it’s the market leader.

The report added that SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir have objected to this saying this would create a “monopoly".

With each of the Indian airlines vying for the maximum share of the Jet Airways' foreign flying rights, Civil Aviation Secretary P S Kharola last week said the ministry would create a transparent standard operating procedure (SOP) to allocate these rights on a temporary basis.

Representative image. Reuters

"We had asked airlines to confirm their requirement of (domestic) slots and (international) traffic rights...Their requests have been officially logged in. Our people will do analysis now and we will evolve a transparent SOP based on which the rights will be given," Kharola said.

The airfares have risen dramatically on many international routes since Jet Airways suspended its operations on 17 April.

The central government, therefore, is planning to allocate Jet Airways' international flying rights to other airlines such as IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir and Vistara.

With Jet Airways out of the picture, Air India remains the only airline in the country that has wide-body aircraft to operate non-stop long-haul flights to areas such as Europe and the United States.

However, other Indian airlines have major international expansion plans and, therefore, each of them is trying to get maximum share of Jet Airways' foreign flying rights, a senior government official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

With PTI inputs