US to halt Air India's repatriation under Vande Bharat mission, alleges discriminatory practices

New Delhi: The US Transport department has asked Air India to halt the ongoing repatriation under Vande Bharat mission from the US alleging the mission as "discriminatory" as only India's state carrier is allowed. The order said, "We are taking this action because the Government of India (GoI) has impaired the operating rights of US carriers and has engaged in discriminatory and restrictive practices with respect to US carrier services to and from India."

The order will come into effect 30 days from the service date. The main plea of the US transport authority is that India has "imposed restriction" that prevents US airlines to conduct the flight operations and while noting that Air India is conducting "self-described evacuation", it has "gone beyond true evacuations".

India began repatriation flights from the US since May 18 and on May 19, the matter was raised by the US with Air India. In fact, on May 26, US airline Delta Airlines had requested permission from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to perform repatriation charter services similar to those provided by Air India but hasn't received approval. 

On June 10 and July 3, Air India advertised for 59 repatriation flights between India and the US which the order called as "Air India may be using its passenger repatriation charters as a way of circumventing the GoI-imposed prohibition of all scheduled services" and this creates, "competitive disadvantage for US carriers vis-a-vis Indian carriers". So far, the Indian government hasn't reacted to the development. 

The US registered its objections with India regarding this "competitive imbalance" via its mission on May 28. India announced the suspension of international flights from March 25. The US transport department has also called for "close scrutiny" and will give prior approvals on "case by case basis" to Air India passenger charter operations. Before that Air India operated 34 round trips flights per week to the US.