Air India asks government to reconsider easing of 5/20 rule for new airlines

Air India has asked the Government to "reconsider" the proposed easing of 5/20 rule which will help new airlines to fly overseas without serving much on domestic routes, saying the move will be "detrimental" not only for the national carrier but also against the other established players.

According to sources, senior airline officials met the Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey today and told the Government that the regulation, allowing a new Indian carrier to fly abroad should be framed in a manner, which does not compromise with the "passengers' safety" and financial viability of the airlines.

The meeting comes ahead of the scheduled deliberations of a Rajya Sabha-Committee on Government Assurances on the issue in Srinagar tomorrow, they said.

The present regulation, popularly known as 5/20 rule, mandates Indian carriers to be in operation domestically for at least five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft to become eligible to fly on international routes.

At present, budget carrier GoAir, which had started operations in November 2005, is the only domestic airline among the old players, which is not eligible for overseas operations as it does not have 20 planes.

The Government, however, is in the process of doing away with such a norm and has proposed a complicated formula replacing 5/20, in which domestic flying credits would still be needed for new airlines to fly overseas.

As per the proposed norms, a new airline would be eligible to apply for international operations once it has operated on domestic routes and deployed capacity equivalent to at least 200 domestic flying credits (DFCs).

On reaching the 300 DFC milestone, the air carrier can approach the government for being designated on a long haul international route of more than 6 hours flying time.

The industry, is however, at variance over change of rules as the Federation of Indian Airlines, which has IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and GoAir as its members has objected to any relaxations and new entrants Vistara and AirAsia India strongly pitching for scrapping of the rule.

Air India, had in early January too, wrote to the government expressing its reservations over the amendments saying that "the sudden withdrawal of the protection of 5/20 rule, might be the proverbial last nail in the national carrier's coffin without bringing any significant benefit to the nation."

"In this background, Air India would recommend that the Government while rationalising the 5/20 rule may adopt a pragmatic, simple but cautious policy, based on a duel criteria of safety and extent of domestic operations.

"It needs to be pointed that keeping just a target of 200 crore ASKM (Available Seat Kilometres) as threshold to qualify for international operations is completely inadequate as it would entitle airlines with no experience and no safety record to undertake the international operations, risking both the lives of passengers and national reputation," the airline had said in the letter.