The government on Monday said the South East Asian nations will be allowed to operate daily services to four metros and an unlimited number of flights to 18 tourist destinations in the country, but this cannot be construed as an 'open sky policy'.

"The government has not announced an open sky policy for Asean nations. The offer made by India to member countries of Asean at the Asean-India Summit in Bali recently allows the facility of daily services to the four metros and unlimited number of flights to 18 tourist destinations in India," Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy informed the Lok Sabha.

He said the requests received from Asean countries within the terms of this offer would be considered without further bilateral talks as and when formalised and implemented.

"This offer will lead to better connectivity between India and Asean nations and strengthen tourism, business, trade and commerce," Rudy said.

He, however, said the revenue implications of this offer for Air-India and Indian Airlines cannot be estimated at this stage.

Referring to the committee to review the route dispersal guidelines that force carriers to operate a stipulated number of flights on uneconomical routes, Rudy said, "The committee is likely to submit its report by the end of December 2003."

To a query on air space management, he said, "Flexible use of airspace is only to permit civil aircraft to use the airspace exclusively reserved for military purposes for optimum utilisation of Indian airspace but not expansion of the existing airspace."

Rudy said the Indian Airlines and Singapore Airlines Terminal Services have decided to carry out a feasibility study to consider the possibility of setting up a joint venture company for ground handling services at the Indian airports.

The government has also approved a proposal of restructuring of airports at New Delhi and Mumbai through joint venture route, he said.

As part of the new initiative to develop regional airports, the government has identified 24 airports for improving aesthetics and upkeep of terminal building and cityside, Rudy said.

These airports are Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport of Mumbai, Indira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport of Kolkata apart from those of Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jammu, Trivandrum, Aurangabad, Calicut, Guwahati, Agartala, Coimbatore, Amritsar, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna, Pune, Ranchi, Jaipur and Udaipur.

Rudy said the Airports Authority of India plans to empanel consultants in fields to upgrade facilities at airports.