The Indian Government’s ban on A380 services was introduced in 2008 and continues to be enforced today by the government in a way to protect its own airlines.
DELHI – Pay a look to the list of destinations flown by Airbus giant A380. You will see destinations in the Gulf area, Europe, the USA, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing and of course Australia. But none of them are in India.
This is no mistake. Since 2008, an official ban has been set on the Airbus A380 into the country. Officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation –including the Minister himself- always admitted that the ban was only enforced to protect India’s mostly ailing airline industry. However, anyone can question the real efficiency of such a measure. While major carriers such as Air India or Jet Airways manage to survive, the recent bankruptcy of Kingfisher is a blatant proof that protectionist measures can only slowdown the collapse of a carrier but certainly not save it.
Meanwhile, competition has already taken its toll on profits of local Indian carriers, which also struggle under high fuel costs, high airports’ taxes and price competition.
Mostly affected by the ban on Airbus A380 were Air France, Emirates and Lufthansa. Air France and Lufthansa were among the first to express the desire to fly the Airbus A380 to India. Their wishes have so not being granted, despite a 2011 promise of the Ministry of Aviation to get away with an “aircraft type” clause in current bilateral air service agreements. At time, a senior official of the Ministry stipulated that “the government has in principle agreed to do away with the ‘aircraft type’ clause in ASAs. After we relax, foreign airlines can bring in even A380s to India. Our only concern is that foreign airlines should fly to India the weekly number of seats allotted to them in the bilateral agreement,” a senior ministry official, who declined to be identified, said.’
While Air France and Lufthansa seem to have abandoned the idea to serve India with an Airbus A380 for the time being, the fight is now carried by Emirates, which feels extremely discriminated by the measure. “The Indian market, which is huge for us, since May 2008 has been capped in terms of seats and the number of points we can serve,” Emirates president Tim Clark told recently to the aviation publication ATW.
Emirates operates services to 10 destinations in India and would love to switch to the Airbus 380 on certain routes and to open five to six new destinations in the country. In India, only three airports -Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore- can handle A380s.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
