DRMumbai: Air Arabia, which operates 113 weekly flights to 13 destinations in India, is planning to open new routes in the country after expansion of the existing bilateral seat capacity on the India-Sharjah route. Adel Abdullah Ali, Group CEO, Air Arabia, said, “Since bilateral norms are governed by the aviation authorities of both countries, new routes will be opened up after an amicable understanding is reached regarding the expansion in capacity.”
“With regard to India, we always wanted more capacity. It is for both governments to decide on expansion of air traffic rights after reaching a reasonable agreement. Currently, all the 13 routes that we operate in India are profitable. There has been a yield dilution year-on-year because of increase in competition as well as seat capacity,” he told reporters in Mumbai.
According to Ali, currently, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, CIS and Russia are profitable routes for Air Arabia. From India, 15 to 18 per cent passengers use Air Arabia for onward connections, while the remaining are point-to-point travellers. “The young population and their demand for low-cost travel are driving the LCC business.”
Talking about investment opportunities, he said: “We are always looking for investment opportunities across the world. We don’t have a specific investment plan for India. As far as Air India is concerned, it is a conventional airline and doesn’t support our business model and it will be better handled by players here in India.”
