Govt may scrap 5-year, 20 aircraft norm for international operations

In a move which could help start-up airlines such as Tata-SIA and AirAsia India, the Union Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday is expected to take a decision on whether the existing norm of having 5 years experience of flying in the domestic skies and a fleet of 20 aircraft for international operations should be done away with.

Official sources told Business Line that comments from various Ministries have been received and forwarded to the Cabinet Secretariat for inclusion in the agenda for the meeting on March 5.

It is likely that the existing rules of having a fleet of 5 aircraft for getting a scheduled operator’s permit will be good enough to allow these airlines to operate not only domestically but also internationally.

The Union Cabinet had stipulated in December 2004 that only those airlines that have completed 5 years of domestic flying and having a fleet of 20 aircraft will be allowed to fly abroad, thereby breaking the monopoly that Air India and Indian Airlines enjoyed till then.

Those who are against the existing rules about the 5-year experience and 20 aircraft before flying on international routes argue that if foreign airlines with one or two aircraft are allowed to start flying to India, there is no reason for not extending the same norm to an Indian carrier.

Commenting on the proposed move a senior officer of a private airline said, “It is amazing that Indian carriers have been fighting this for years, and it did not even come up for discussion. The moment two foreign airlines decide to set up shop here, the Government decides to change the rules.”