Foreign carriers scramble for space in India

Finland-based Finnair announces a new Mumbai-Helsinki flight starting this June, reports Lalatendu Mishra.

The current bout of expansions would help airlines to block preferred slots which could be a rarity in the next two years. The phenomenal increase in domestic aviation has squeezed available slots. And the Government’s move to encourage night flying by domestic carriers has triggered a scramble for night slots, considered to be the peak time for international travel.

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"There is no certainty in getting slots after two years when everybody would be simultaneously looking at India to add flights. Development of alternate airport at Mumbai is still unclear, so it is better to have slots now or wait indefinitely," said an airline official.

Meanwhile, Mumbai airport is gearing up to handle 21 per cent increase in international and 9 per cent increase in domestic flights in the summer schedule.