Foreign airlines’ flights won’t be allowed at expense of Indian airlines: Puri

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said the time has come to send a loud and clear message that foreign airlines’ flights will not be allowed at the expense of Indian airlines.

On 28 September, Lufthansa had to cancel its flights between India and Germany from 30 September to 20 October as the DGCA withdrew permission for them saying there are restriction on Indians who want to travel to Germany and this puts “Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa”.

During a press conference, Puri said, “The issue is not about allowing foreign carriers in or not. We are all for foreign carriers operating here. Make no mistake. But I think the time has come for the message to go out loud and clear that it will not be done at the expense of the Indian carriers.”