Government rejects FlyDubai’s request of providing direct connectivity to Northeast

The Indian government has rejected the request of Dubai-based airline FlyDubai to provide direct connectivity to underserved airports in the north-eastern region, namely, Guwahati and Dibrugarh. The decision came as the carriers from India and Dubai exhausted their bilateral quota of 65,000 seats each. Following this, FlyDubai has been trying to negotiate with India to increase its flying right entitlements, and flights to Guwahati or Dibrugarh would have been over and above the existing bilateral agreements, had the request been accepted. Meanwhile, the decision to increase Dubai’s bilateral flying rights to other routes such as Bhubaneswar, Tirupati and Coimbatore is awaited.