Ministry to alter airlines routes

Chennai, July 26: As airline services are not flying on many routes they have been granted, the ministry of civil aviation is planning to alter the routes that are not being used, according to senior officials.
Following the economic downturn, many airlines are delaying the launch of new services that were declared in several sectors and rescaling expansion plans.
Official sources report that the ministry has started discussions with airline services and asked them to explain the reasons for not maintaining services in the allotted sectors.
“The ministry had conducted a study on several domestic and international routes which remain unused and these routes were granted following requests from airline services. The ministry has already sent letters to airline services to get their operational plans and would consider the possibility of reallocating routes,” said a senior official of the ministry.
“Declining traffic during the economic meltdown has forced airline services to cancel several services. Air India is maintaining all the services that we committed on certain routes,” said Mr Jitendra Bhargav, senior spokesperson of Air India. Permission is given to fly routes on the basis of the number of seats available in each flight route/sector.
Airlines sources hinted at the launch of more services in the near future, especially in the international sector