No change in 5-year norm for overseas flights

New Delhi: Lobbying and years of debate have been unable to change the civil aviation ministry’s stand on eligibility for Indian carriers to fly abroad.
The ministry has decided to continue with the existing provision — which requires a domestic airline to have a minimum 20-aircraft fleet and five years of domestic operations before it becomes eligible to fly overseas — and decided against referring this matter again to the Cabinet.
So, low-cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet — which completes five years of domestic flying this June — is set to fly abroad this year. But IndiGo, the most successful LCC today, will have to wait till August 2011 before being allowed the same privilege.
Three of the largest Indian carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — are already operating on international routes, but in many instances, have been unable to exhaust the seats granted under bilaterals.
Meanwhile, official sources confirmed to DNA Money that though SpiceJet has been given an in-principle approval to fly to nearby destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from June, the final approval is still pending.
30/03/10 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Mar 2010