Government on Thursday indicated that it was not protecting the national carrier Air India through its efforts to revisit the norms to allow global operations by Indian carriers, even as it maintained that a decision on the issue was yet to be arrived at. The Civil Aviation Ministry is also likely to put in place a new aviation policy after concluding consultations with all stakeholders.
“We vouch for the interest of the entire civil aviation industry and not of any individual, be it our national carrier. It is close to our heart, no doubt about it. “But I assure you that any decision on these rules, whenever it is taken, will be taken in the interest of the aviation industry as whole,” Minister of state for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of an aviation industry event here.
While on the one hand he maintained that the decade-old policy needed to be reviewed in view of the changed circumstances, he also said “we have never said that we will remove it (5/20 norms), we have never said that we will change it. There is no commitment, as it is still under discussions.” The 5/20 rule allows an Indian carrier to fly abroad only after it has completed five years of domestic operations and maintains a 20-aircraft fleet.
Under the proposals now being considered to revise this rule, a domestic carrier would be eligible to fly on overseas routes only after it has earned 300 flying credits in domestic operations. An airline can accumulate Domestic Flying Credits (DFCs) by deploying more capacity on regional routes, particularly those which are under-served.