The Hindu : Private domestic carriers hail move

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2003

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Private domestic carriers hail move

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI OCT. 21. Private domestic airlines of the country can now look forward to operate on the international routes for the first time as India and Sri Lanka today decided to encourage Indian private carriers to extend their operations to airports in Sri Lanka.

The announcement was made in the joint statement issued at the end of three-day visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe. "With a view to increasing tourist flow and connectivity, it was also decided to encourage private scheduled airlines of India, which operate only in the domestic sector at present, to extend their operations to airports in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister agreed to reciprocate in terms of the access that airlines from India could have to Sri Lankan airspace,'' the joint statement said.

Aviation sources said that today's announcement of opening Colombo to private scheduled airlines was a "forerunner'' to the many more international destinations being opened up. They described it as just the "beginning''.

The formal notification is likely to come shortly. At present, Indian Airlines operates daily flights to Colombo from Chennai and has code-share arrangement for flights to Colombo from Delhi, Mumbai and Tiruchirapalli.

In his first reaction to the announcement of encouraging private operators to extend their operations to the island nation, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said it was the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative beginning from ASEAN early this month.

He told The Hindu that the decision was part of the comprehensive economic partnership with Sri Lanka.

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