India's Bilateral Agreements May Cost Airlines $900 Mn In Revenue: Tim Clark

The head of the flag carrier Emirates, Tim Clark has said that Indian airlines are missing out on revenues to the tune of USD 800-900 million due to limited bilateral agreements between India and Dubai.

He further said that Dubai has asked India to approve 50,000 extra seats per week between Dubai and India. 

While speaking at the Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) India Aviation Summit, Clark said that the government of Dubai has approached the Indian government to liberalise air travel by agreeing on a bilateral air service agreement, but to no avail. 

Clark also said at the vent that we cannot expect to grow and not allow others to come in, we have to have an open skies agreement. 

He added that the deliberation over increasing the seats between India and Dubai has been going on for the last five years as a large number of Indian travellers use Emirates on large scale to transit to the US and Europe. 

Clark referred to India as a big market and also said that India was a big talent pool for the likes of Emirates. India's growing aviation market will be beneficial for the world in the future. 

He also informed that nearly 20 per cent of Emirates staff was made up of Indian citizens.