New Delhi: With the government having put ease of doing business in India at the top of its agenda, VistaJet boss Thomas Flohr knows one change he'd like to see happen — get the aviation regulator to work on weekends so that overflight approvals don't need to take three days. To be sure, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation will approve emergency requests in a matter of hours but for everybody else, the office is shut on Saturday and Sunday.
Flohr had wanted to fly from Myanmar to Dubai on Monday, January 4, for which permission was sought on the preceding Friday, New Year's Day. But VistaJet, the world's largest operator of business jets, was told it wouldn't be able to get approval before Tuesday.
"I had to be in Dubai on Monday," Flohr told ETin a recent interview. Circumventing India meant an additional three hours of flying time-—it took him nine hours instead of six to get to Dubai from Myanmar.
And it's not just overflights, even trips to Indian destinations from overseas at short notice, say by a corporate boss in her company jet, risk getting stuck. All foreign-registered aircraft using Indian air space need DGCA approval. While scheduled commercial airlines have a fixed timetable and approvals are obtained in advance, business jets need permission each time they fly into or over India, as do those seeking to fly overseas from the country.
16/04/16 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times
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Flohr had wanted to fly from Myanmar to Dubai on Monday, January 4, for which permission was sought on the preceding Friday, New Year's Day. But VistaJet, the world's largest operator of business jets, was told it wouldn't be able to get approval before Tuesday.
"I had to be in Dubai on Monday," Flohr told ETin a recent interview. Circumventing India meant an additional three hours of flying time-—it took him nine hours instead of six to get to Dubai from Myanmar.
And it's not just overflights, even trips to Indian destinations from overseas at short notice, say by a corporate boss in her company jet, risk getting stuck. All foreign-registered aircraft using Indian air space need DGCA approval. While scheduled commercial airlines have a fixed timetable and approvals are obtained in advance, business jets need permission each time they fly into or over India, as do those seeking to fly overseas from the country.
16/04/16 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times
