Civil aviation ministry back to square one on flying abroad rules

Proposal to abolish the current '5/20 rule' for flying overseas was unanimously opposed by the industry

Having received inputs from various ministries on the draft rules for Indian airlines to fly abroad, the civil aviation ministry is set to hold fresh consultations with airlines.

“We will hold consultations with the airlines soon on this matter,” civil aviation secretary R N Choubey told Business Standard on the sidelines of the launch of Gagan, a satellite-based navigation system to make airline operations more efficient, here on Monday.

Choubey, who took office last month, said the new aviation policy would be released by the end of this month for comments from all stakeholders.

The Centre’s proposal to abolish the current ‘5/20 rule’ for flying abroad was opposed by most airlines. Under the existing norms, an airline should have five years of flying experience and 20 aircraft in its fleet to get a permit for flying international routes. A few months ago, the government had planned to replace the ‘5/20 rule’ with a credit-based system, linking it with the route dispersal guidelines.

A re-draft of the civil aviation policy is also under process and the airlines' suggestions will be taken on board.

"We will hold consultations with the airlines soon on this matter," Union civil aviation secretary RN Choubey told Business Standard on the sidelines of the launch of Gagan, a satellite-based navigation system.

He said the new civil aviation policy will be put up in public domain for inviting comments by the end of this month.

The  ministry had issued a draft policy in November last year. The Centre has since then missed several deadlines to introduce the final version of the policy.

The draft policy, too, was opposed by industry representatives. New airlines such as Vistara and AirAsia are strongly in favour of scrapping the existing rules pertaining to international routes. However, these airlines have criticised linking the requirement of flying abroad with regional operations domestically.

Incumbent airlines such as IndiGo and Jet Airways want the present rules to stay.

The Union civil aviation ministry had received comments from various other ministries on its proposed flying abroad rules in May. It had planned to send the proposal for Cabinet's approval.