NEW DELHI: Airlines of Abu Dhabi and India have full exhausted their flying rights under the existing air service agreement (ASA) in the last one year and it’s the “right time to start discussions on revising the bilateral,” Etihad Group CEO Antonoaldo Neves said Monday at the IATA AGM. Desi carriers, led by IndiGo and then Akasa to some extent, exhausted the Indian side of the bilaterals six months back while the Abu Dhabi-based airline did so a year back.“One-and-a-half years ago, we were using just 50% of the 50,000 weekly seats that Etihad can operate in each direction. Indian carriers that time were using just 25-30% of their similar entitlement. Everything changed in the last one year with airlines of both sides now fully utilising their allocation under the existing ASA. We operate 170 weekly flights to 11 Indian cities. Abu Dhabi has over 17 lakh Indians,” Neves said.The ramp up by Indian side, led by IndiGo, has been massive in this period. “IndiGo is a very strong carrier. Their cost of operations are very competitive,” he said.However unlike Dubai, Abu Dhabi has not yet made a request for a revision of the bilaterals with India. Asked if like Dubai’s Emirates, Etihad will also not use any hike in bilaterals to increase the connecting traffic it gets to and from India, he said: “The debate between point-to-point and transit traffic is pointless. Our flights to and from India are over 90% full (due to which fares are high, like Emirates). When capacity increases, which we hope in a staggered manner, consumers will benefit with more flights, more capacity and lower fares. Six lakh Indians currently visit Abu Dhabi every year and this number is growing,” he said.Etihad has been eying a bigger pie of the huge India-US travel market by leveraging the pre-clearance for America that its hub in Abu Dhabi — Zayed International Airport — offers. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility there lets flyers clear US immigration and customs there itself and skip long queues on arrival. Etihad currently serves four US destinations with nonstop flights to Boston, Chicago, New York, and Washington. It will also launch services to Atlanta in July 2025.
