The Hindu Business Line : See the open sky and reach for it

INDIA and the US recently revisited a 50-year old restrictive agreement, and decided to adopt an `open skies' policy in aviation "to accommodate the growing travel and trade between the two countries," as http://usinfo.state.gov informs. Bilateral trade added up to $18 billion in 2003; and almost 20 lakh people criss-cross annually between the two countries.

So, rather than archaically impose limits on the number of airlines, cities catered to, and flight frequencies, `open skies' becomes a need.

For us, the new pact has been touted as the harbinger of cheaper flights, and the Civil Aviation Ministry has asked carriers to submit their flight plans even as there are doubts if our industry players can handle the heat of competition.

Already, the country's major airports are working on parking-bay expansion to accommodate the new A380 superjumbo when it takes to the skies from next year.

However, for the US, which has more than sixty `open' arrangements around the world, the India concord should be one more attempt to lift a sagging sector, gasping for air.

Across the Atlantic, FedEx founder Fred Smith has been lobbying in Paris for an `open skies' policy between the US and individual European Union member states to help both sides realise "the full economic benefits of the global economy," as Memphis Business Journal reports.

But what is `open sky'? "The concept of `open skies' is much misunderstood in its meaning and implications," concedes www.wttc.org, the site of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

"Strictly speaking open skies means unrestricted access by any carrier into the sovereign territory of a country without any written agreement specifying capacity, ports of call or schedule of services."

Thus, theoretically, when the skies are open, any foreign airline can land any aircraft at any airport, with no restrictions on frequency and seat capacity.

However, in the interest of better discipline and regulation, open skies policy translates as bilateral treaties to determine the aviation relations between two countries.

Close to 99 per cent of members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have such agreements, specifying regularity of operations, basis of ownership, type and certification of aircraft, and so on. The phrase `open sky' has aspirers in the telecom sector too. "Permitting Open Sky Policy was recommended by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)," said the Union Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, in reply to a query in Parliament.

However, to disappoint the DTH and VSAT operators, he added: "But the Department of Telecommunication, after consultations with the Departments of Space and Science, have decided not to allow it now because of the issues raised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and also the Departments of Space and Science."

Giving the phrase a military twist, the US Bureau of Arms Control has posted on its site `Open Skies Treaty' that came into force from Jan 1, 2002, to establish "a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights" over the entire territory of 30 countries, such as Belarus, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and so on. This is unrelated to civil-aviation open skies agreements, because of its focus on promoting "openness and transparency of military forces and activities".

The original concept of `mutual aerial observation' was that of President Eisenhower in 1955, as the US Department of State informs. To implement and promote objectives, signatory states of the Open Skies Treaty created the Open Skies Consultative Commission or the OSCC. Wikipedia devotes a page to OC-135B Open Skies of the US Air Force, an observation aircraft fitted with four cameras.

Singular `sky' is fine as well, and we have a liberal and unilateral open sky policy for cargo flights right from 1990. Accordingly, any foreign operator can operate any number of flights by any type of aircraft to any airport having customs and immigration facilities without any bilateral agreement; and they can charge according to demand and supply situation.

"To facilitate cargo carriers make their investment decisions and undertake commitments on long terms basis, it has been decided to place this Open Sky Policy for cargo operations on a permanent basis," wrote M. R. Sivaraman, the then Director-General of Civil Aviation in a 1992 Aeronautical Information Circular.

Indian aviation cleared major air pockets in the early 1990s when more private airlines began their operations, besides the national carrier. Air services in India were liberalised in 1994."The total passenger traffic handled by Indian airports in 2001-02 was over 40 million, while the cargo traffic handled was around 854,000 tonnes," it announces with pride.

However, our share in world aviation traffic is still miniscule, Naresh Chandra would declare in his report on civil aviation. "India accounted for a mere 24 lakh tourist arrivals in 2002, compared to 71.5 crore worldwide and 13 crore in Asia Pacific (a 0.38 per cent share)."

That's why when, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, delivered the inaugural address at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas a few weeks ago, he did some hard sell by highlighting the `new civil aviation policy' and added: "We have already opened up our skies in the peak season. We have allowed Indian private airlines to fly abroad."

India has signed over 180 bilateral agreements, informs WTTC, when pointing out to a skew in the actual utilisation of contracted seats: "Whilst the foreign carriers are in a position to use over 70 per cent of their entitlement, the national carriers are only able to utilise 29.4 per cent of their share."

For instance, during the brief open sky period announced for December 2003 to April 2004, foreign airlines were happier with 2.74 lakh additional seats. Similarly, during the 2004-05 open sky season, foreign airlines operated more than 2,300 extra flights, to ferry 5.85 lakh people.

Flip side to open skies, therefore, is that foreign airlines can derive disproportionate economic advantage of the available traffic rights when our carriers have fewer crafts to leap into the skies with. As a result, we'd not be reaping the advantages of openness, though the industry has a high potential.

"I saw a star, I reached for it, and I missed. So I accepted the sky," said Scott Fortini. An appropriate quote, that is, for our airline operators who'd now be aspiring for the sky to be on cloud nine, but there're only the clouds if they miss.

ZeroBase@TheHindu.co.in

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