To be competitive, charter flight policy upgrade in works

In a bid to boost the sagging charter flight sector, that currently seems to be missing out on high-end tourists, the official of the tourism and civil aviation ministries are working in tandem to overhaul the regulatory policy. To that end, a meeting was held on January 17 and this was discussed in detail. Presently, while the policies regulated by the DGCA are in existence, they haven't aided the sector.

Officials of the tourism ministry contended that "prohibitive measures" — taxes on fuels brought into the country by the charter flight, restrictions on foreign tour operators that do not permit more than eight passengers on chartered flights per year, and the requirement that the entry and exit points remain the same — are some of the key issues that were discussed.

A tourism ministry official said that the long-standing issues have led to several complaints from tour operators, who say that easing of the norms could lead to charter flights accounting for a huge portion of the leisure travel industry, like in Europe.

"As per the rules, tourists entering India in a chartered flight need to exit from the same airport of entry. If this rigid rule is relaxed, it will allow tourists to return by any mode, lending them greater flexibility to travel," said the official. Apart from that, tourists entering via business visas face several restrictions when using charter flights.

The official also added that non-scheduled flights are also restricted from selling vacant seats, unlike scheduled operators, leading to losses in peak season.

Some of these issues were also taken up in the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee on Tourism Sector held late last year. In the meeting held last month, members of the travel trade industry and from FICCI were also present.

In 2016, when the civil aviation came up with the National Civil Aviation Policy it stated that inclusive tour package governing charter flights will be reviewed to include more categories.