The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) at the Centre has enhanced the number of seats to 50,000 in flights that airlines from India and Abu Dhabi operate to each otherÂ’s countries. The IMG has taken a decision to this extent. This was done after overruling an inter-Ministerial committee of bureaucrats, which had recommended increasing the seats to 40,000. This is the line that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is taking in a note being prepared for the Union Cabinet.
The issue has snowballed into a controversy with several Members of Parliament writing to the Prime Minister, raising questions on the rationale behind the decision. The Civil Aviation Ministry is preparing the note after the Prime MinisterÂ’s Office directed it give details of the sequence of events leading to the two countries signing the new air services agreement in April.
The agreement allows airlines from both the countries to operate 50,000 seats over the next three years from the current level of 13,700. A senior Ministry official said that the decision to increase the number of seats could be linked to the proposed $50 billion that Abu Dhabi indicated it was willing to invest in infrastructure projects in India.
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