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New Delhi, July 13: Emirates Airlines, the national carrier for the United Arab Emirates, has approached New Delhi with an ambitious plan to more than double its seats in the India sector over the next five years.
And in return? New Delhi hopes to get back as many dons as it can from Dubai.
The dons-for-seats formula came up at a high-Ievel meeting in the Ministry of External Affairs along with the Emirates' expansion plan. As per this plan, the airline proposes to increase its seats to-and from India, from the current 9,900 a week to 25,500.
Ever since Aftab Ansari - 'the prime accused in the attack on the American Center in Kolkata - was deported from Dubai, this dons-for-seats formula has had a strong support in the MEA. Not so much in the Ministry of Civil Aviation which discussed Emirates' expansion plan at a meeting on April 22. It has now asked for feedback from Air-India, Indian Airlines and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). For its part, it has told the MEA that accepting the Emirates offer would be bad news for Air India and Indian Airlines.
This isn't the first time the formula is being discussed. In fact, several key bureaucrats and politicians have admitted that such a trade-off happened twice" earlier. Emirates was given block seats on the basis of informal discussions rather than a formal bilateral agreement
- 500 seats per week on May 14, 2002 and more recently, on March 30, 2003, for the Hyderabad and Cochin sectors.
"' Sources say the then Minister Shahnawaz Hussian agreed to this after he received MEA's written instructions that seats should be granted to "improve security relations"
with the UAE. Says George Joseph, India's Counsel-General in Dubai: "The criminal-for-seats phenomenon existed in the beginning when the first guys came back.
Now, pure commercial and trade interests are fuelling the network expansion due to the sheer size of the Indian market.
Besides, the Emirates does not want these criminals in their land." About the future expansion plans of Emirates, Joseph said he was confident the airline "would get it."
So, despite turbulence from the Civil Aviation Ministry, the MEA is going ahead. It recently asked security agencies to rework their pendency list of the 60-odd mafia dons into two list of 10 of the "most wanted" living in Dubai and 10 who use it as a transit point. In all, 12 criminals have been deported from the UAE since Aftab Ansari came back in February 2002.
Says a senior MEA official: "As far as the Emirates proposal, no action has been taken and it did not figure during discussions with the delegation led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan which visited New Delhi two weeks ago."
What Emirates wants ?
An increase in weekly capacity entitlement from 9,000 seats in 2003 to 25,500 seats in 2007.
From five points served in India to nine. Every year, one city among Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Kozhikode to be added.
Fifth freedom traffic rights beyond Hyderabad and Bangalore to Singapore and Bangkok.
The Dons who have come home
Muthappa Rai (a string of criminal cases in Bangalore), Aftab Ansari and Rajendra Anadkat (extortions, American
Center attack), Ejaz Pathan, Mustafa Ahmed Umardosa and Iqbal Shaikh Kaskar (Mumbai blasts)
Those who have not
Dawood Ibrahim, Memon brothers, Anees Ibrahim, Aftab Bhatki, Chota Shakeel.
Source: The New Indian Express.
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