Emirates Warns India’s Protectionism Could be Drag on Growth

According to Emirates, the mismatch between India’s ambitions and its aviation policy is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. But does India agree?

India wants to be a global aviation hub. But its current aviation policy may be holding that dream back. That’s the view coming from Emirates, one of the world’s biggest international airlines and the largest foreign carrier operating in India.

Earlier this week, Emirates President Tim Clark criticized India’s aviation policy, saying its tight bilateral air service agreements with countries like the UAE are “not compatible” with its ambition to become an international aviation hub. He argued that open access is the foundation of any hub airport.

This isn't the first time that Clark has been fairly vocal about the issue.

Echoing those sentiments in an interview with Skift, Adnan Kazim, deputy president and chief commercial officer at Emirates, described the situation as a long-standing bottleneck. “The last capacity increase we received from India was back in 2014. Now we'