Taking advantage of the recent bilateral air services agreement between India and the US, private Indian carrier Air Sahara has sought permission from the government to fly non-stop to the US.
"We want to fly non-stop to the US and have asked the government for permission for it," said Rono Dutta, president, Air Sahara.
Government officials said that the airline's application is being examined currently in the light of the liberalised air services agreement between the US and India.
Currently, no Indian carrier operates non-stop service to the US. Airlines like Air-India flies via Europe to the US. Jet Airways has been permitted by the government to operate three flights a week to New York via Brussels.
Sources also said Jet has asked the government for a permission to fly via not just Brussels, but using other European cities as well.
The government has also permitted US carriers like Delta and Continental to fly non-stop services between the two countries.
It may be recalled that Air Sahara had not applied to the government for a permission to fly to the US when Jet was permitted to fly to the US in January this year.
Non-stop services will be of an advantage to Air Sahara as it would allow the carrier to operate faster services to the cities in the US.
It is also worth noting that the recent bilateral agreement between the US and India allows Indian carriers to operate any number of flights to any of the US cities.
Besides, the carrier is also expected to start daily operations to Singapore from Delhi starting May 11. "Similarly, our operations to Kuala Lumpur from Chennai will start on June 15, 2005," Dutta said adding that Air Sahara has sought permissions also to fly to Bangkok and Hong Kong.
Dutta also said that the airline is in the process of acquiring aircraft to boost its Indian as well as international operations.
It would need long range aircraft like Airbus 340s to operate non-stop services to the US. "We will have aircraft to operate non-stop services to the US," he said.
Indian carriers view the US as a major market for their operations. Airline industry is of the view that with the liberalised air services agreement, airlines in the two countries are expected to mount additional services in the route.
Industry expects that this could lead to at least doubling of capacity between on the route and reduction in airfare in the sector.