Willie Walsh | Photo credit: IATA website
India’s refusal to revise bilateral seat allocation for international flights despite demands from several countries reflects an “old protectionist India”, which could result in retaliation and restricted access for other Indian airlines, which in turn could lead to global Will hamper India’s ambition to develop airport hub, warns. Willie Walsh, director general of global airlines body IATA.
“With expansion ambitions India will need to allow more competition but if you have restricted bilaterals you are not going to get response from other countries. Other countries will also limit capacity,” Mr Walsh pointed out. Hindu In an exclusive interview at IATA’s headquarters in Geneva.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents over 300 airlines globally. Mr Walsh’s comments come as airlines such as Emirates and Turkish Airlines have called for amendments to bilateral rights. Emirates CEO Tim Clark recently stated that India’s refusal to allow Gulf carriers to fly more flights to India could result in losses of “$800 to $900 million” to Indian airlines, which would also result in reciprocity rights. Will be Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has ruled out revision in bilateral seat allocation.
Mr Walsh said the demands by various airlines such as Emirates and Qatar for additional seats or flights under bilateral agreements were due to “demand for air travel significantly exceeding the services available”, and therefore the ultimate losers would be those consumers who would face fewer flights. Due to which he was forced to pay more air fare.
Mr Walsh lamented that the government’s policy reflected the “old protectionist India”, which did not have a national airline capable of competing globally.
“Going forward, people should be more ambitious and confident and believe that Air India is capable of competing on a level playing field,” he added. He said India has huge growth potential and though its domestic market is the third largest after the US and China, it accounts for only 2% of global revenue passenger kilometers. [the number of revenue passengers multiplied by the total distance traveled]While in China it was 9.8% of the global RPK.
Outdated protectionist policies will increase air fares in India: IATA DG Willie Walsh
In an exclusive interview with Jagruti Chandra at IATA’s headquarters in Geneva, its DG Wiley Walsh says that India’s decision not to respond to demands to revise bilateral seat allocations has resulted in other countries imposing sanctions for Indian airlines. May have to answer. He also talks about the challenges related to pilot shortage as well as the new confidence in the Indian aviation market after Air India’s large aircraft order.
With Air India bringing four different airlines under one brand, what should the Indian aviation sector and consumers be paying attention to?
I think this is a very positive development. If I go back to my prior career as an airline CEO, I was very positive about consolidation. When I was asked questions about India in my previous career, I always pointed to the fact that a struggling and bankrupt Air India was a huge drag on the industry in India because to a large extent what we were seeing was Air There were policy decisions taken simultaneously. India in mind I don’t think that was the most important positive outcome for India as a country. I think the acquisition of Air India by the Tatas has been a very positive development. The formation of the joint venture with Singapore Airlines is a very positive development and the order placed by Air India [of 470 aircraft] There is proof of this. Singapore Airlines’ investment shows great confidence in what is going to happen in the new Air India. This should give more confidence to the country and the government that India is capable of competing on a global platform with other airlines around the world on an equal footing. Going forward, we will see more confidence in the industry in India.
India aspires to develop a global airport hub and become a manufacturing hub. But what should it fix first?
It is one thing to be a global airline and quite another to operate out of an efficient global hub airport. You have to have both the airport and the airline working well. You have to make sure that you have the right infrastructure and the airline has to have the right network, which is not only the hub airports but also all the spoke airports where they will operate. The network they want to develop will be a challenge in itself as you will have to get slots at all the airports you want to fly to. This includes expanding the network internationally when most international hub airports are busy. Air India has slots in most of these, but I think the ambition goes beyond the network that Air India operated. But you have to have the right people in place, which is challenging especially in the current climate in the industry. Recruiting and retaining talent is a difficult task. But ramping up operations to the scale India is seeing will require a lot of investment in training facilities, recruiting the right personnel with the right skills and doing so in a way that allows airlines to expand in a safe environment. Lots of challenges, but also very exciting times. And the prospect of recruitment and investment in other areas of aviation should be exciting too.
Do you think the current government’s policy of restricting bilateral rights and thus access of foreign airlines to India is beneficial to the traveling public and Indian airlines?
The point at the moment is that Indian consumers are suffering. When you see airlines like Emirates and Qatar turning to additional services, it is because there is huge demand and that demand is not being met. So, what you often see is a demand for services that far exceeds the services available. I think it reflects an old protectionist India which did not have a national airline like Air India capable of competing globally. They have to recognize that there is a need to allow more competition in India with expansion ambitions because if you have restricted bilaterals you are not going to get response from other countries. Other countries will also restrict capacity.
The policies I have seen the Government of India implement were suitable for that, but going forward people should be more ambitious and confident and believe that Air India is capable of competing on a level playing field and talk about protectionism Shouldn’t be worried. , I think there is a lot of potential for India. If you look at the domestic market, there is a lot of potential. But there is no doubt that consumers will be at a loss.
India is also scrambling for pilots. What should be done to overcome this acute shortage?
There is a shortage in some parts of the world, but it is not a global problem. There is no shortage in Europe and there are many pilots looking for jobs and the industry is still recovering. Yes, we have lost some people who may have retired or retired early who may be attracted back. There’s no glut of pilots, but there isn’t a global shortage either. The US, where a shortage exists, is a particular problem because of specific requirements for minimum flight hours that are not in place in other parts of the world.
But India will need a lot more pilots than this, and airlines will have to look at whether they recruit pilots from within India or expatriate pilots or a combination of the two. But I suspect it will be a combination of both. I don’t see that the supply chain for pilots is strong enough in India so that Indian airlines can meet all the requirements from the Indian market.
You will see independent training institutes in many parts of the world looking at India as an opportunity to develop pilot training schools in the country. Air India itself will invest in training facilities to ensure that they have the right resources internally to ensure that they have enough pilots. It’s going to be a huge challenge because it takes time to train pilots from scratch, and it takes time to train and bring in qualified ones. When I did my pilot training several years ago, it took about 18 months from start to training as a co-pilot. It takes a long time to believe that you can do everything efficiently. You are looking at an 18-24 month training period for beginner pilots. But there are many qualified pilots in other parts of the world who might want to return home as opportunities exist in Air India and other domestic airlines. But this clearly means that Air India will have to compete with other airlines around the world on pay levels.
What are IATA’s concerns regarding India?
The main concern we have is that it is over-regulated without adequate regulators. So, this is the worst combination you can get. Too many unnecessary regulations and insufficient infrastructure to support regulation. It’s high cost- we still have the issue of state taxes on fuel which don’t exist in many other parts of the world and all of which plays against the consumer. It just means that consumers are paying more than they would if there were more sensible regulation. There is scope for significant deregulation in India, which will benefit Indian consumers as it will improve the efficiency of airports and airlines and reduce the cost of operations, which is ultimately passed on to the consumer in the form of lower ticket prices. There is scope for a fundamental review of the rules in India.