Malaysia Airlines bets big on Indian non-metro cities

A shortage of flying rights is hindering Malaysia Airlines' expansion plans in India, one of its key travel markets, said a senior airline executive.

Having exhausted its flying rights to Indian metros, the carrier is now mounting flights to non-metro cities. For instance, the airline will increase frequency from Amritsar to seven flights per week from August from the current four.

Last year, Malaysia Airlines started flights from Trivandrum and Ahmedabad besides Amritsar.

"India is an exceptional story. We want to be a part of India's success story, but there are issues regarding air traffic rights," Izham Ismail, group managing director of Malaysia Aviation Group, told ET in an interview.

"With the right commercial levers, we were able to deliver a handsome load factor for these three new routes averaging at 88% on India routes. It is an important market for us," he said, referring to the newly launched services to Trivandrum, Ahmedabad and Amritsar.

To be sure, all Malaysian carriers like Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, and Malindo Air have exhausted their share of bilateral rights with India and are seeking an increase. Flying rights were last raised in 2012.

The Indian government allocates flying rights on a bilateral reciprocal basis. In most cases for Middle East countries, Indian carriers have been unable to utilise their bilateral flight quota while foreign airlines have exhausted theirs.

Such instances led the Indian government in its National Civil Aviation Policy in 2016 to frame guidelines stating that unless utilisation level from the Indian side reaches 80%, additional flying rights will not be granted.

"The policymakers in India, they are protecting their home carriers and I respect that. So, should I be fighting for more increasing capacity to Delhi and Mumbai? That is for both governments to agree. So we are looking to expand into areas which the Indian airlines are unable to fulfil," said Ismail.