Young airlines may get to fly global routes

New Delhi: Airlines with less than the currently stipulated five-year domestic flying experience may soon be allowed to operate on international routes, benefiting carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan and others with ambitions to fly to overseas destinations, but held back by the rule.
The civil aviation ministry has suggested that the rule be removed and approvals be granted on a case-by-case basis. This is part of the new civil aviation policy named ‘Vision 2020’ likely to be considered by the cabinet this week.
“If approved in its entirety, it will not be mandatory to have certain years of experience for plying international routes,” said a civil aviation ministry official, who asked not to be named because a final decision is pending cabinet approval.
The ministry is likely to give approvals for global routes based on the airline’s capacity and traffic on a given route, the official said. A similar arrangement works in the domestic sector with carriers allotted routes ahead of every winter and summer season.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, earlier this month, had said that the government was looking at reviewing global flight norms by the year-end given the number of foreign carriers coming into India under the various bilateral agreements. India has air services agreements with more than 100 countries, but since only a handful of Indian carriers fly abroad, they don’t often result in reciprocity.
30/05/07 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign May 2007, New May 2007