Gulf Big 3 see 70% India flyers transit at hubs

A substantial portion - over 70 per of passengers flying on Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways flights connected to India utilised the airlines' hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha as transit points for travel between India and third countries in February this year, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium's data reviewed by Business Standard.

-  DEEPAK PATEL

This substantial share of 'sixth freedom' traffic, referring to passengers using an airline's home hub to travel between two other nations, involving India has raised concerns within the Indian government.

Officials believe this passenger flow impedes the growth of long-haul and ultra-long-haul international operations of domestic carriers such as Air India. Consequently, the Indian government has refused to increase bilateral traffic rights to the abovementioned three Gulf hubs in recent years. Government officials informed the newspaper that India has conveyed its apprehensions regarding the high proportion of sixth freedom traffic to the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, the home countries of these three carriers, during multiple meetings in 2023 and 2024.