Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Air India to pull out of Chennai-Dubai sector

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI AUG. 12. While foreign airlines are vying with one another to either introduce direct flights to Chennai or augment their services, Air India is in the process of pulling out of the present bi-weekly operations between Chennai and Dubai.

Sources in the AI here and in Mumbai, while endorsing the airline's move to withdraw the direct link to Dubai out of Chennai from October told The Hindu the national carrier's Chennai-Dubai Airbus-310 link, operated on Tuesdays and Sundays, was a relatively ``lucrative sector.''

The AI proposal comes at a time when the Thai Airways has announced its decision to provide four-times-a-week link to Chennai from October 26. Under its winter schedule, the Thai Airways will fly a 305-seater Airbus-330 to Chennai from Bangkok and then operate a quick shuttle between Chennai and Dubai and return to Bangkok, thereby taking over the Dubai sector.

According to the AI official web site, the airline started its operations to Dubai in 1969 and now operates 38 services per week from Dubai to seven Indian destinations. It operates daily services linking Dubai to Mumbai, New Delhi and Kochi with standardised departures. The carrier operates six flights per week to Kozhikode, five to Thiruvananthapuram, three to Bangalore and two to Chennai, in addition to seven code-sharing operations with the Emirates Airlines.

However, the sources explained, the Thai Airways would operate the Chennai-Dubai-Chennai link on a code-sharing arrangement with the AI and the modalities of sharing of seats were being worked out. The Thai Airways' Chennai connection would also cut into the monopoly market currently held by the Indian Airlines in the Chennai-Bangkok-Chennai sector. "It is unfortunate that the well-established Dubai link held for over a year by the AI is being offered on a silver platter to a foreign carrier to reap the benefits", said D. Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India (APAI). This step was being taken at a time when Lufthansa, German airline, augmented its share to Frankfurt out of Chennai to six flights, the British Airways sought enhancement of its services between London and Chennai and the Emirates Airlines was keen on operating more services to Dubai from Hyderabad and Chennai.

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