Bar on foreign airline investment likely to stay

New Delhi: Dashing the hopes of foreign airlines to invest in Indian carriers, the civil aviation ministry and the department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP) have firmly shut the door on airline FDI in this high-profile segment.
The domestic airline segment has been reclassified as ‘domestic scheduled passenger airline sector’ in a recent note submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the bar on foreign airlines has been emphasised strongly. The move also pre-empts efforts by the Planning Commission and some key departments like the finance ministry to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic carriers. Though foreign investment is allowed in domestic carriers, foreign airlines are barred.
“FDI in air transport services would continue to be capped at 49% on the automatic route and 100% for non-resident Indians (NRI), subject to no direct or indirect participation by foreign airlines. This segment would be reclassified as domestic scheduled passenger airline sector,” says the note submitted by the DIPP to CCEA.
12/11/07 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2007, General Aviation Nov 2007