Jet Airways granted traffic rights requirements to Gulf, Middle East routes

The ministry of civil aviation has given its approval to the grant of traffic rights to Jet Airways on the India-Gulf / Middle East routes from 1 January 2008. The traffic rights that have been granted to Jet Airways are:

• 3,682 seats to Kuwait per week of which 1,582 seats are in the Delhi-Kuwait route, 1,050 seats in Trivandrum-Kuwait route and 1,050 seats in Kochi-Kuwait route
  
• 3,150 seats to Oman of which 1,050 seat are in the Kochi-Muscat route, 1050 seats in the Trivandrum-Muscat route, and 1,050 in Calicut-Muscat route
  
• 2,100 seats to Qatar of which 1,050 are in Mumbai-Doha route and 1,050 in the Calicut- Doha route
  
• 2,100 seats to Bahrain of which 1,050 are in the Mumbai-Bahrain and 1,050 in Kochi-Bahrain route

Jet Airways had applied for traffic rights on the India-Gulf/Middle East routes on 18th July 2007. They had asked for rights on routes to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Their request for grant of traffic rights on India-Dubai and India -Abu Dhabi routes is under the consideration of the government.

The total entitlement for Indian carriers on the Gulf routes at present is 85,481 seats per week of which 21,950 are for Dubai, 7,420 for Abu Dhabi, 10,206 for Sharjah, 8,000 for Kuwait, 10,892 for Qatar, 7,546 for Oman, 10,967 for Bahrain and 8,500 for Saudi Arabia.

The utilisation by Indian carriers of the available Gulf routes is 49348 seats per week of which 20002 are for Dubai, 3313 for Abu Dhabi, 8690 for Sharjah, 3475 for Kuwait, 1526 for Qatar, 3475 for Oman, 1526 for Bahrain, and 7341 for Saudi Arabia.

It may be noted that as per the decision of the government, scheduled Indian private airlines are not permitted to operate international flights to/from Gulf till the end of 2007. The Gulf routes are served only for the Indian public carriers till then.