Aviation Ministry seeks cabinet nod to make it easier for airlines to fly international

The Civil Aviation Ministry would soon submit a draft note on the proposed changes in the controversial 5/20 norm to the Cabinet for approval.

The norm mandates Indian carriers to be in operation for at least five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft to be eligible to fly on international routes.

"The ministry will move the draft note on the 5/20 rule to the cabinet for its approval next week," official sources said today.

The Ministry had earlier sent the proposed changes in the existing rule for inter-ministerial consultations.

"We have recently received their comments and suggestions and a draft Cabinet note is now almost ready to be sent for approval," the sources said.

By bringing in changes in the more than decade-old rule, the government seeks to address the imbalance between domestic and foreign carriers.

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

Besides, the new airlines Vistara and AirAsia India are also not eligible for operating international flights from India as they do not meet the 5/20 guidelines.

The proposed rules stipulate that a new start-up domestic airline will only be allowed to operate on those international routes, which are more than six hours of flight from India.

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 both Vistara and AirAsia India strongly pitching for scrapping of the rule.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation 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.

Such deployment will have to comply with revised Route Dispersal Guidelines, they said.

"We are complying with RDGs. However, I do want clarity on the 5/20 ruling which links to RDG," AirAsia India chief executive officer Mittu Chandilya told PTI.

He said he is holding back his expansion plans due to the lack of clarity "on such an important policy issue".

"Not sure whether the proposed norms are going to be based on points system and also whether RDG would be mandated on same proportion. (It is) very difficult to plan ahead without a semblance of what the regulatory policies are or will be," Chndilya said.

He also said he was having discussions along all those lines in the best interest of the industry's growth.