Civil aviation ministry back to square one on flying abroad rules

Soon after getting nod from various ministries, the Union civil aviation ministry’s proposed norm for flying abroad is back on the drawing board.

The Union civil aviation will soon hold fresh consultations with the airlines on the draft rule for flying abroad. Government’s present proposal to abolish the current ‘5/20 rule’ for flying overseas was unanimously opposed by the industry.

According to the present norms, an airline requires five year of flying experience and 20 planes in its fleet to get a permit for flying international routes. Few months back, the Union government had planned to replace it 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 Union civil aviation ministry had released a draft policy in November last year. The Union government has since then missed several deadlines to introduce the final version of the policy. The draft policy was also opposed by the industry representatives.

Choubey, who took office last month, is re-looking into the contentious policies of the Union civil aviation ministry.

The new airlines such as Vistara and Air Asia are strongly in favour of scrapping the existing flying abroad rules. However, even these airlines have criticised linking the requirement of flying abroad with regional operations domestically. The incumbent airlines such as Indigo, Jet Airways have all opposed the abolition of the present rules.

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.