Bangkok, Nov 21 - Singapore Airlines (SIA) has asked the Indian government to give it more slots to fly to the country as the international carrier is already facing up to 20 percent overbooking on the sector ahead of winter vacations.'India is in favour of deregulation,' said Chew Choon Seng, chief executive of SIA, expressing optimism that the Singapore-based international carrier will get more slots to meet the demand for international travel in India.'Given the jump in number of airlines in India with international aspirations, it is matter of time when India opens its skies,' Chew told IANS on the margins of an international conference here.Between January and August this year, passenger traffic between Singapore and India grew 17.5 percent compared to the same eight months of the previous year.Presently, SIA has 55 flights to India a week and is hoping to get double dailies to Delhi from its present seven flights a week by summer 2008, subject to clearance from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).The last bilateral air services agreement with India was inked in January this year but SIA hopes more slots will be allowed before the next one is negotiated between the two countries.A recent circular issued by India's civil aviation ministry allowed all airlines to upgrade their aircraft to any capacity on existing frequency from December to end-January to address the peak season demand.But officials here said this came too late for international airlines to adjust their schedules and reroute their aircraft that have already been allocated for the winter.SIA's subsidiary SilkAir also flies 14 times a week on the smaller A320s to Kochi, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram, while Tiger Airways, its low-cost arm, operates four flights a week to Chennai.Indian carriers flying to Singapore include Jet Airways, JetLite and Air India. Trade officials here said the demand for seats is so high that additional frequencies will not eat into the business of other airlines.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
