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Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh would soon hold consultations with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about allowing domestic airlines to operate international services without restrictions in fleet size and operational experience.
Talking to Business Standard , Singh said, “There is no logic in not allowing Indian airlines to fly international without having five years of operational experience and 20 aircraft (5/20 rule) when foreign airlines can fly in with even a single aircraft in their fleet. The regulation needs to be amended and we are planning to move a Cabinet note soon.”
The move will benefit Wadias-promoted GoAir and new entrants AirAsia India and Tata Singapore Airlines Limited (Tata-SIA), which have evinced interest in started international operations out of India.
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Singh said: “If a corporate house buys a business jet today, it can fly out of the country without any restrictions. The DGCA examines whether safety requirements are in place and issues permits. I see no reason why the same cannot be done for scheduled carriers. I will talk to the DGCA about what kind of checks need to be in place and look at revising the criteria.”
His suggestion has been endorsed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who said in Washington last week that if the civil aviation ministry moved a Cabinet note to amend the rules, he would support it.
Advisory firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in a recent report described the 5/20 rule as “the most damaging and discriminatory”.
The financial health of Indian airlines would have been stronger had they been allowed to start international operations earlier, it said. It would have improved domestic carriers’ aircraft utilisation and permitted them to compete aggressively with foreign airlines, which have over the past few years snared away international traffic.
GoAir CEO Giorgio de Roni had said the airline is looking to fly international upon receiving regulatory approvals, “We already fly our aircraft 13.5 hours a day and, if we have to improve productivity, we need to fly in the night as well. The idea is to improve utilisation by flying on international routes. The Gulf is a possibility.” The airline would have a fleet of 19 aircraft by February 2014 and is looking at a waiver of the 5/20 rule to start overseas operations.
Tata Sons, which tied the knot with SIA to launch a full-service carrier in India with an initial investment of $100 million on September 19, said it would like to operate international flights from India depending on government approvals.
Tata Sons’ other joint venture partner, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, too, has been vocal in his criticism of the 5/20 rule. In a media briefing in New Delhi in July this year, Fernandes had said the rule makes no sense and that India is the only country where such a rule exists. “A one-plane operation like AirAsia Malaysia can fly into India, but an airline with (less than) 20 planes cannot fly out. That's a disadvantage to the (Indian) airline.”
AirAsia has also evinced interest in developing India as a hub for international travel. “India is strategically located. And we can operate flights from the southern part of the country within a four-hour circle to destinations in Africa and on the Gulf route such as Doha, Nairobi, Maldives, Karachi, Bangladesh and some cities in China.
It is bizarre that the government has a regulation in place, which allows (only) airlines with five years of operations and a fleet of 20 aircraft to fly international. It does not make sense. Probably Naresh (Goyal) or someone put it down,” Fernandes had said.
