New Delhi Apr 25 PTI Tata Group-owned Air India has lost its preferential access to bilateral rights that are needed to operate flights to another country according to a circular issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCAAir India had preferential access to bilateral rights which are granted under air services agreements signed between two countries -- as it was a government-owned national carrierHowever the Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last yearClause 36 of the previous DGCA circular stated Due consideration shall be given to the operational plans submitted by Air India Limited before allocation of the traffic rights to the other eligible applicants The fresh DGCA circular which was issued on April 19 removed the clauseThe central government may at its discretion grant or deny allocation of traffic rights to any air transport undertaking having regard to its preparedness to undertake such operations viability of the operations on a particular route overall interests of the civil aviation sector etc the fresh circular readFor the airlines of a particular country to operate international flights to another country the two sides have to negotiate and sign a bilateral air services agreement which decides how many flights or seats per week can be allowed to fly from one country to the otherOnce such an agreement is signed each country is free to allocate the bilateral rights to its respective airlinesEven after such flying rights are allocated to an airline it must have slots at both the airports in order to start flight operationsA slot is a date and time at which an airlines aircraft is permitted to depart or arrive at an airportThe slots are allocated by a committee that consists of civil aviation ministry and DGCA officials airport operators and airlines among othersThe Tata Group is yet to appoint a chief executive officer CEO for Air India However its chairman N Chandrasekaran rejigged the top management of the airline earlier this month bringing in senior executives who have worked in other companies of the group such as Tata Steel PTI DSP RC