FINALLY!! there’s relief for frequent flyers between Mumbai and Shanghai! No longer will passengers have to wait at unearthly hours at airports during stop overs, or suffer 12 hour journeys, for an otherwise 7 hour flight. After two days of negotiations in New Delhi, Jet announced it would start flying the Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco route from May 4th. Insiders also say there is a strong possibility Jet will soon start flying Mumbai-Beijing as well. Air India, which currently only flies to Shanghai is also expected to start flying to Beijing and Guang Zhou soon. India currently operates four flights to Chinese cities. China operates 18 flights to India.  

On Thursday, negotiations between Indian and Chinese aviation authorities concluded that airlines of both sides can fly on to a maximum of two cities each in three regions. While India asked for Canada-US; Australia-New Zealand and Asia. China has asked for — Africa, Middle-East (including Gulf) and Europe — as the three regions for its carriers.

A month ago 2point6billion.com, had reported that the deal would be signed, sealed and stamped in Jet’s favour in a month (http://www.2point6billion.com/2008/02/18/jet-setgo/)

The much awaited direct flights are expected to boost economy and cultural ties between the two silk route nations. Trade between India and China has only ballooned from the begining of this century. During the year 2000-01, the bilateral trade volume was barely US $ 2 billion. This increased to US $ 11.3 billion in 2004-05, current bilateral trade stands at an excess of US $ 15 billion. Since 1997-98, Indo-China trade has registered a growth of 260% i.e., average yearly growth of around 33%.

“It has been agreed that the designated airlines of India may operate beyond China to San Francisco with full fifth freedom traffic rights. The Chinese side shall be allowed to nominate a beyond point in India with full fifth freedom traffic rights, at their discretion at a later date. Airlines of each country shall be entitled to exercise beyond fifth freedom traffic rights on not more than 14 frequencies to all the beyond points put together,” the ministry said.

Under fifth freedom, airlines can take passengers and cargo from the intermediate point for flying to the final destination. India currently has two airlines that can fly abroad — Air India-Indian Airlines combine and Jet-JetLite combine. As of now, AI does not have any plans of having beyond flights out of China. IA’s plan of a Mumbai-Guangzhou-Australia plan was shelved following its merger with AI.

India has similar agreements with other countries but in absence of an adequate number of international flights by its airlines, the other countries gain the most. For instance, European and Gulf carriers take a large chunk of India-US travellers by offering them connectivity through their respective bases.

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