Review of 5/20 norms at 'formative stage', says Sharma

The process of reviewing the eligibility criteria for domestic carriers to fly overseas is at a "formative stage", the government said today.
The government is reviewing the 5/20 norms -- whereby only those airlines operating in domestic sectors for at least five years and having a minimum fleet of 20 planes are allowed to fly abroad.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said the government is in the process of reviewing eligibility criteria of scheduled carriers for operation on international routes in consultation with stakeholders.
"The same is in the formative stage," he said.

To a separate query on utilisation of bilateral rights by carriers, Sharma said the same depends on various factors including traffic potential on a route, size of fleet of the airlines and its financial strength, among others.
"As per the Winter Schedule 2014-15, Indian carriers were not using bilateral entitlements with about 80 out of 109 countries falling under bilateral tie-ups," the Minister said.
Foreign carriers offer 4,32,456 seats a week for Indian passengers compared to 2,42,365 seats offered by domestic carriers.