Turbulence Ahead For U.S.-Bound Indian Carriers

But the most relevant clincher is what UAE negotiators and Naresh Goyal, the non-resident founder-chairman of Jet Airways, secured last year from Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. They rode on the fact that rival Emirates had already got huge increases in its entitlements of air seats from Singh's predecessor, Praful Patel.

Hence, the Etihad-Jet combine argued successfully, UAE deserved a four-fold increase in air seats it can pick from India in the next three years and a generous. addition to the list of Indian airports that Etihad could fly in and out. Add the Sheikh's equity position being built into Jet, India's largest private carrier, and we have a perfect recipe for delivering hundreds of thousands of Indian passengers into Abu Dhabi's ambitions.

Ironically, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority downgraded India's aviation, the new regulations will mean a reversal for Jet and help the Sheikh. Jet can't add any more seats to the U.S. till the downgrade is reversed. The U.S. part of its revenues will grow as a feeder to Etihad! The losers will be Air India and all other carriers competing for the two-way aggregate of four million seats between India and the U.S..

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