The winter airline seat crunch may ease with a dozen airlines, mostly from Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf, planning to add 39,752 seats in December, 43,752 in January and 25,500 in February taking advantage of the open sky announced for the peak season.

Capacity per month
	Old	New
Singapore Airlines (Dec-Jan)
	36,672	41,924
Gulf Air (Dec-Jan)
	44,000	45,000
Emirates (Dec-Jan)
	43,200	50,200
Sri Lankan Airlines (Dec-Feb)
	24,000	30,000
Malaysia Airlines (Dec-Feb)
	20,000	23,500
Lufthansa*
	3,216	7,216
Cathay Pacific (Dec-Jan)
	11,088	13,588
* figures for Bangalore, for Jan- Feb

While Sri Lankan Airlines plans to hike its capacity 25 per cent to 30,000 seats per month from December to February, Malaysia Airlines has raised the number of its seats 17.5 per cent to 23,500 a month for the period. Cathay Pacific has enhanced capacity 22.54 per cent to 13,588 seats each for December and January.

The 12 airlines that are increasing seats are Singapore Airlines, Oman Airways, Gulf Air, Emirates, Sri Lankan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Silk Air, Austrian Airlines, Kenyan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa.

On the Southeast Asian sector, there will be an extra 16,000 seats each in December and January. On the Gulf sector, the addition will be 19,000 a month.

On the European sector, Lufthansa is adding 4,000 seats each in January and February, while Austrian Airlines is adding 1,000 seats for the two months. Kenyan Airlines is adding 6,000 seats in the December-February period.

The civil aviation ministry has offered an open sky up to February 28, 2004. This is the first time the offer has been made to Southeast Asian and Gulf carriers.

Sri Lankan Airlines executives said it would add one flight each to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Tiruchirapalli and two to Chennai. Malaysia Airlines is adding the seats to Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Cathay Pacific plans to upgrade aircraft on its existing flights to Delhi and Mumbai and may add some southern cities to its roster, according to industry sources.

Singapore Airlines, which is raising the number of its seats from 36,672 to 41,924 each in December and January, is adding them on flights to Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.