Tensions over plans to transform Air India into a global airline with hundreds of new jets rippled across the aviation sector on Tuesday as foreign carriers clamoured for more access to the world’s fastest-growing economy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faces growing demands to ease a near-freeze on capacity that can be deployed on many routes to and from India, now that India’s flag carrier has been sold to the cash-rich Tata conglomerate.
Current limits on the amount of flying allowed between India and many markets date back to heavy losses at Air India around the beginning of the last decade, analysts said.