Must restrict flying rights of foreign airlines to aid Indian players: Wilson

Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said the strategy is to contain traffic rights expansion so that local airlines have the opportunity to spin up and attain scale and become competitive There is a need to contain foreign airlines from expanding into India by restricting any increase in flying rights so that Indian airlines can grow, Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson has said. “I think the strategy is to contain traffic rights expansion so that local airlines have the opportunity to spin up and attain scale and become competitive... and then actual liberalisation will happen. It’s very difficult for us to fly an aircraft to North America, if there’s a surplus of capacity that allows people to travel out by someone (airline) else, and so too much just leaks out. India will not get the non-stop capacity from an Indian operator to these markets,” Wilson said. “So it’s a balance that has to be struck, allowing the market to grow. But also incubate your local market, because that’s fundamentally the most beneficial thing that you can do for the economy,” he said while replying to a question on India restricting an increase in bilateral arrangements with several countries.<br/>