NEW DELHI, June 11: Whatever else one might have to say about the wisdom of Prime Minister I K Gujral's outburst over the country's aviation policy during his visit to Nepal, it is clear that he needs to do some serious introspection and take some hard decisions. Most, if not all of them, relate to the fate of the national carrier, Air India.

To set the record straight, it's not as if the Civil Aviation ministry (and its representative, the Airports Authority of India) does not permit airlines from other countries to fly into the country and take/offload passengers from various airports. The point is that they often delay the process of giving such permissions, and usually restrict the number of flights so if British Airways wants 10 extra flights this year, they may eventually get just 5.

It is believed, in fact, that Gujral hauled up senior civil aviation ministry officials a couple of months ago, for not allowing Air Lanka to increase the number of flights that they could fly into India.

So why do the ministry officials delay/restrict foreign airlines, especially since this is beneficial to customers? After all, more airlines and more flights means cheaper tickets and better services for customers. The reason why they do this is that more foreign flights means that Air India's business gets eaten into. Take cargo, for instance. Says an official of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII): "We have a precedent. When the government allowed foreign airlines in the freight sector about 5-6 years ago, A-I not only lost its share. It got almost wiped out of the freight market."

In other countries like the US or the UK, the aviation authorities are relatively quicker to give permission to other airlines since they are not scared of competition. Also, they use this as an opportunity to get more access to the aviation markets of other countries. Air India, by contrast, does not even have enough planes to utilise even the existing quotas they have. Air India, for example, utilises only half the capacity into Germany.Says an aviation expert: "The government is in a fix. Traffic has grown phenomenally over the past few years but the government has expressed reservation in increasing frequencies to protect its national carriers. If it opens its skies, the move will ruin AI and IA".

Already, the government is faced with demands from half a dozen European and Asian countries for better air links. Take the case of Lufthansa, which plans to expand its operations to 21 frequencies in the next three years from the existing 15 frequencies per week (decided during the last bilateral negotiations in May 1994).

While Lufthansa is operating 15 flights a week (with a load factor of 93 per cent in the first five months of 1997), its Indian counterpart, Air-India, is not even utilising half the sanctioned capacity. Last year, the German authorities sought review of the bilateral and negotiations were held in February. However, no agreement could be reached. The issue will come up for discussion again in the last quarter of 1997.

Similarly, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and British Airways plan to increase their frequencies. With 8 frequencies per week from Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta as per 1991 bilateral agreement, KLM is desperately seeking access to Madras. "We would also like to have more flights to and from Delhi and Mumbai," according to an airline spokesperson. Though negotiations were held in mid-1995, KLM's request was turned down without citing any reason. Last month, Singapore Airlines too sought new flights during their negotiations for an alliance with with Air-India. However, talks failed as the two sides could not reach an agreement.

Nearer home, Air Lanka has requested its government to negotiate for additional frequencies. With 24 flights a week from Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Madras and Trichy, the Sri Lankan carrier is finding it tough to meet the pace of traffic growth. In fact, it is operating two flights on royalty basis for Indian Airlines, which has so far failed to utilise the allocation (based on seats per week). The airline plans to add 5 new flights but is "not sure" of getting the mandatory go-ahead from the Indian government.It is only a few airlines that don't have complaints about the number of flights they can fly into the country, and the speed at which their bilaterals get settled. With 7 frequencies a week, Air France has been permitted six new flights in the next three years. "We do not have any problem. In fact, we have had a smooth and trouble-free time," says an Air France official. The fact that Air France has recently entered into an alliance with Air India each will be able to sell pre-fixed space on the others flights could also be a factor in the quicker clearances for it. In a situation like this, Gujral and his government have to take a decision on whether they want to have more competition and a better deal for customers, or whether they want to protect the national carrier.

If the Gujral government is not willing to give Air India genuine autonomy, there is no way it can survive the onslaught of more competition right now, Air India does not even have the freedom to buy the necessary aircraft, to retrench its vastly bloated staff, to decide its own schedules instead of being forced to disrupt them for events like the Haj. The bottom line is that it cannot have more open skies as well as a healthy Air India unless it frees the airline from its clutches.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.