Kuwait's national carrier Kuwait Airways informed its desire to increase the number of seats to Indian from its current weekly seat of 12,000 to 90,000 per week. However sources pointed that the prevailing civil aviation policy doesn’t allow the unidirectional seat increase from Kuwait to India.

During the visit of India's external affairs minister Sri M J Akbar to Kuwait, Kuwaiti authorities proposed to increase the seat allocation to 7 times that of the current weekly seats from Kuwait to India by its national carrier. However the Indian side informed that as per the Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016, which lays down guidelines related to bilateral traffic rights, seats can only be increased once the utilization of Indian carriers touches the level of 80% of the allocated seats. Currently Indian carriers are using less than 30% of the 12,000 seats which Kuwait carrier is using per week.

Considering that approximately 1 million Indian expatriates in Kuwait, current seat allocation of 12,000 seats per week needs to be increased substantially to serve the Indian community in Kuwait, Kuwait authorities informed. A further discussion will be held between the civil aviation authorities of both sides at the earliest to discuss the Kuwaiti proposal and other operational matters, sources told IndiansinKuwait.com.

Since the distance between India and Kuwait is less than 5000 km, the Open sky policy will not be applicable and the bilateral seat sharing between both the countries will be as per the Civil Aviation Policy 2016. According to this policy, for countries within 5000 km radius, where the Indian carriers have not utilized 80% of their capacity entitlements but foreign carriers /countries have utilized their bilateral rights, a method will be recommended by a Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary for the allotment of additional capacity entitlements. Whenever designated carriers of India have utilized 80% their capacity entitlements, the same will be renegotiated in the usual manner. However, the Indian carriers are using only 30% of the current allocation of 12,000 seats between India and Kuwait. The outbound connectivity to various US and UK destinations helps the Kuwaiti carrier to increase the service to India.

Meanwhile Indian Carrier Go Air and Indigo had already given permission to start their service to Kuwait from Indian cities. Both the airlines are expected to start their service in the coming winter schedule.