Trijunction woes: New Delhi shoots down United Airlines-Emirates-India codeshare

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The Centre has shot down a proposal from US carrier United Airlines to codeshare with Emirates on flights originating from India. The reason: there is no agreement between Dubai and India governing these routes. According to media reports, a codeshare agreement could apply to as many as 27 destinations on the network of the Emirates and a large portion of these routes are within India.

This can have an impact on business since codeshare makes it possible for airlines to jointly market routes to attract more passengers which can raise seat occupancy and business in general.

Tim Clark, the president of Emirates confirmed that the proposal of United Airlines was turned down by New Delhi and admitted the difficulty of the circumstances. On its part, the Centre told the media that arrangement between India and Dubai does not allow a third airline to get into the picture.

This is a fallout of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, since United Airlines has been compelled to cancel direct flights from New Delhi on account of the closure of Russian airspace for US aviation entities. After closure of Russian airspace, costs have gone up for airlines from the US. Accordingly, United Airlines was forced to cancel four routes including San Francisco-Delhi and Newark-Mumbai.

The carrier would increase the number of flights to India only when the Russian airspace opens up again, said Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines.

On the other hand, in order to pave the way for Indian airlines to operate direct flights to the busy markets of Europe and North America, New Delhi has stopped extension of flight rights to airlines from West Asian countries.

The Indian domestic sector is growing rapidly but a large share of the Indians flying out of the country are choosing overseas carriers. The Indian government wants domestic carriers to gain a bigger share of this market.

Clark has argued that both Emirates and India have suffered. Emirates has not grown since 2015. There is a quota of 60,000 seats per week which both Indian and UAE carriers can operate and they are approaching the upper limit of the quota. Clark said India’s approach is rather protectionist and country with high GDP growth and large non-resident population does not need protectionist policies to encourage growth of its airlines.

To further his arguments, Clark offered the example of Turkey that opened up making Istanbul a major hub for global connectivity. Turkish carriers benefitted as well, he said.