Air India CEO warns against excessive liberalization of bilateral aviation rights, ETTravelWorld

Wilson stressed that the airline continues to provide full cooperation with the authorities and remains committed to learning from the final report when it is issued.

Campbell Wilson, president of Air India, said on Wednesday that the pace of liberalization of bilateral aviation rights should not be “so excessive” that it undermines investments by Indian and other airlines.

India is one of the fastest growing civil aviation markets in the world, and various foreign airlines, especially from the Gulf, have raised concerns that the country is not offering more bilateral rights as it looks to tap into the market’s potential.

Tata Group-owned Air India is revamping and expanding its fleet to offer more services amid rising demand for air traffic.

According to Wilson, about 95 per cent of the traffic carried by Indian airlines ends or originates in India.

“For some other carriers, upwards of 60 per cent, 70 per cent and in some cases 90 per cent of what they transport from India passes through and goes elsewhere.

“As much as Indian airlines have invested tens of billions of dollars in wide-body aircraft to serve these markets directly, these are the customers we depend on to fill the aircraft we invest in,” he said at a conference in the national capital.

Wilson emphasized that if the pace of liberalization was too much, it would completely undermine the investment case that “we are making to buy aircraft.”

“If we can’t get these aircraft into service, then all the additional benefits to MRO, manufacturing, tourism, all the things that air connectivity facilitates start to erode.

“So, I firmly believe that it is in India’s interest to ensure that the pace of liberalization does not undermine the investments made by Indian (entities), not just airlines. Indian aviation players are developing India into a thriving, large, world-leading, globally attractive ecosystem, which I think we all want it to be,” the Air India chief said.

Moreover, Wilson said that in some ways India is still a developing country and competes with countries that developed earlier.

He added, “I think it is wise that the pace is not dictated by the most developed countries, and not necessarily the least developed.”

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