NEW DELHI, November 16: The India-bound traveller is facing a tough time this winter with international carriers including British Airways and Lufthansa resorting to off-loading passengers on over-booked flights.

Faced with a winter rush of passengers, European carriers are off-loading booked passengers at the last minute.

The airlines claim that their flights from Europe to India are booked over 100 per cent. "We just cannot accommodate so many passengers. The result is that a few are denied boarding" said Kevin Steele, general manager (South Asia), BA.

"Our flights from Germany to India are booked chock-a-block. Last week, we had to resort to off-loading passengers" added K Sethi, official spokesperson, Lufthansa.

Steele said that the rush of travellers is evident from the fact that the next booked seat on an India-bound BA flight is available in January 1998.The airline industry attributes the over-booked flights to under-capacity on the European sector.

European carriers including BA, Lufthansa and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have been pestering the Indian government for increased frequencies and points of call.

However, despite repeated pleas, the Indian government has been postponing talks to discuss new air bilateral pacts. These pacts, airlines hope, will pave the way for more capacity on this sector.

"Our negotiations with the Indian government were scheduled for the last quarter of 1997. However, we have not received any word from the government despite reminders" said Sethi.

BA and Lufthansa are interested in doubling their flight frequency to India. They, along with KLM, alo want more points of call such as Bangalore, Cochin and Ahmedabad.

"Our capacity has remained static since 1991. However, traffic has increased rapidly since then" said Steele.

Even Austrian Airlines, which launched its service to India one month ago, has expressed interest in increasing its capacity. The airline is already reporting full flights from Vienna to Delhi.

The under-capacity in this sector is also being attributed to Air India's winter schedule. Unlike in the past winters, Air India is not flying to Amsterdam and Zurich this year. It has also curtailed its flights to Frankfurt.

This implies lesser number of seats on AI for passengers bound from Europe to India.

It is expected that the in-bound rush of passengers will continue till January. Then, airlines expect to contend with out-bound passengers, as those visiting relatives and attending seminars in India return home.

The international airline industry foresees another round of off-loading and scenes of chaos at airports, unless airline capacity increases as a result of new bilaterals.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.