Extra flying rights, but with caveats

Govt wants to encourage point-to-point traffic on int'l front

- Anu Sharma Mihir

India is keen to grant airlines more flying rights for so-called point-to-point traffic, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said, as the country pursues its ambition to build its own aviation hubs.

Under the hub-and-spoke model, airlines deliver passengers from spoke airports to a hub from where they are flown out to other hubs.

From these other hubs, they travel further to their final destinations. For example, up to 70% of Indians boarding an Emirates flight fly beyond the airline's Dubai hub to destinations in Europe, Americas, and other parts of the globe; the balance 30% Dubai-bound travellers makes up the point-to-point traffic. India has been concerned that foreign airlines have been scooping up Indian travellers using this model.

Point-to-point flights, on the other hand, focus solely on origin and destination airports. This would allow airlines and flyers to travel directly between specific Indian and global destinations rather than taking a stopover.