The Modi government has at last produced yet another Draft Civil Aviation Policy. The first draft was put up over a decade ago but the final policy never saw the light of day. In between a draft was put up a few months back which was very cursory and vague. This draft is a major improvement and has a comprehensive coverage. But how much of it will be converted into policy and then implemented is anyone’s guess.
The draft policy covers ten items of importance namely, Aviation Safety, Regional connectivity, 5/20 rule, bilateral traffic rights, code-sharing, route dispersal guidelines, fiscal support, helicopters, scheduled commercial agreement, airports development, cargo, skills development, essential services, aero-manufacturing, offsets.
The controversial issue of 5/20 has been made more complicated by inviting suggestions from public to either keep or discard it or go in for a point system. This indecision of the government should not have been reflected in the draft policy. In the same para it states that Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG) meant for remote areas will be retained. Although RGD amounts to cross-subsidy by airlines, this system has been functioning quite well and its retention at this stage is, perhaps,worthwhile even as it adds to the cost of operation of domestic airline services. Significantly, no analysis has been given why domestic cost of operation for airlines is high thereby making domestic flying expensive when compared to international. For example, issues of excessively high sales tax rates in states like Mumbai and Delhi have not been discussed. The whole issue of retention of 5/20 is based on the premise that if all airlines are allowed to go abroad from the start, many will abandon domestic services. Why domestic services make less money than international services has not been analysed.
A mention has been made of Satellite based Navigation (RNSS) using our own augmentation satellite GAGAN which will be made compulsory for all Indian aircraft after 1-4-17. This is an important step in the right direction.
11/11/15 Dr.Sanat kaul/The Financial Express
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The draft policy covers ten items of importance namely, Aviation Safety, Regional connectivity, 5/20 rule, bilateral traffic rights, code-sharing, route dispersal guidelines, fiscal support, helicopters, scheduled commercial agreement, airports development, cargo, skills development, essential services, aero-manufacturing, offsets.
The controversial issue of 5/20 has been made more complicated by inviting suggestions from public to either keep or discard it or go in for a point system. This indecision of the government should not have been reflected in the draft policy. In the same para it states that Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG) meant for remote areas will be retained. Although RGD amounts to cross-subsidy by airlines, this system has been functioning quite well and its retention at this stage is, perhaps,worthwhile even as it adds to the cost of operation of domestic airline services. Significantly, no analysis has been given why domestic cost of operation for airlines is high thereby making domestic flying expensive when compared to international. For example, issues of excessively high sales tax rates in states like Mumbai and Delhi have not been discussed. The whole issue of retention of 5/20 is based on the premise that if all airlines are allowed to go abroad from the start, many will abandon domestic services. Why domestic services make less money than international services has not been analysed.
A mention has been made of Satellite based Navigation (RNSS) using our own augmentation satellite GAGAN which will be made compulsory for all Indian aircraft after 1-4-17. This is an important step in the right direction.
11/11/15 Dr.Sanat kaul/The Financial Express
