MUMBAI: Dubai is seeking to expand air traffic with India by adding as many as 50,000 seats a week to the current two-way capacity, a proposal that is sure to be opposed by local and foreign airlines as they see it disproportionately benefiting the emirate’s flag carrier at the cost of others.If the move goes through, carriers from the two sides will be able to fly up to 1.13 lakh seats every week, higher than the combined entitlements given under bilateral air traffic agreements with Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Sharjah and Oman. Last Friday, the aviation ministry asked Indian carriers for their views on the proposal.Dubai's Emirates , the world's third largest carrier by number of passengers flown, would be the biggest beneficiary of the move. It already operates 183 weekly India-Dubai flights, compared with the combined number of just over 300 by India's four international airlines - Air India Jet Airways , IndiGo and SpiceJet. Emirates, referred to in a lighter vein as India's national carrier, ferries the largest chunk of overseas travellers out of India, many of whom further travelling to western destinations.The proposal comes even as the government is toying with the idea of auctioning traffic rights. Countries within 5,000 kilometers of India, can bid for seats that are not utilised by Indian carriers. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al- Baker Monday criticised the proposal to auction seats.Mumbai-Dubai and Delhi-Dubai were the busiest international air travel routes out of India last year, according to government data. The current entitlements between Dubai and India are almost fully utilized on both sides, but the gains aren’t equal. While Indians account for the biggest chunk of overseas flyers to Dubai, the money lies in ferrying them to the rest of the world, which Emirates does with its vast global network. Indian carriers miss out here.IndiGo and SpiceJet fly point-to-point flights from India to Dubai, and are making losses on their international operations, while Air India is also reeling under heavy losses. Jet Airways is trying to gain on the trend of Indian’s flying via the UAE, by shifting its hub to Abu Dhabi, where partner Etihad is based, and operating outbound flights from there on its own and in code-share with Etihad. If Emirates gets to increase the number of flights, Indian airlines fear, more travellers who could have otherwise flown their flights would choose it because of the ease of connectivity to global destinations. Other foreign airlines are, too, unlikely to welcome such as move because of the same reason.Executives from two local carriers expressed their opposition while speaking to ET.“How much more does the government propose to give of our traffic to them,” said the owner of one of the airlines. "It's crazy. I think the government will have a problem pushing this through," said the chief of another.While local airlines oppose the plan, increasing the seat capacity could help ease the problems faced by lakhs of Indians working in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE, especially during the holiday season in the Gulf when tariffs go sharply higher.The proposal from Dubai has come at a time when India and the UAE are pushing more than ever for closer ties. Last week, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, paid his first state visit to India. Modi visited the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in more than three decades.Unlike other business pacts with the UAE, India has different air service agreements with different emirates such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai.Emirates competes as much with fellow UAE-carrier Etihad as it does with western rivals such as Lufthansa and Qantas, whose rule over the global skies it has systematically destroyed over the last few years.Emirates has one of the largest plane orders in the world. Putting in its own mammoth capacity is one way to take on Etihad, which is building a network on India routes with Jet Airways.Emirates has had the most liberal increases in flying rights to India. A 2011 report by national auditor Comptroller and Auditor General highlighted that India liberally granted flying rights to Dubai — from 10,400 seats to 54,200 between 2005 and 2010. Emirates now uses most of the current entitlements of 63,000 seats allotted to Dubai. In comparison, Singapore has a total of 29,400 seats and Malaysia, 20,670. Germany, which uses a different matrix for calculation of rights, is allowed 74 services a week, less than half of Emirates flights.Overall too, India's local carriers have criticized the giving of bilateral rights. Except the Gulf and East Asia, Indian carriers use only about 5-10% of all their entitlements. Carriers from the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and Germany are utilizing most of their rights. International carriers ferry 70% of the traffic out of India."India has bilateral agreements with 110 countries. Of these carriers from just 47 countries operate to India. Indian carriers fly to only 24 countries," said Habeebullah Ubaidullah, an independent researcher and RTI activist."Also two-thirds of international traffic is concentrated in the six metro cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. The government has made 24 airports international in the last few years but hasn’t given them proper infrastructure ... Unless all this is rectified, not only Indian carriers, but also its people will be bereft of any benefits of enhanced air services agreements," he added.