New Delhi: The draft aviation policy, which will be sent to the cabinet this week, is expected to allow new airlines with less than five years of domestic experience to fly overseas, provided they have 20 aircraft and 20 per cent of their fleet earmarked for domestic routes.
This will replace the earlier, highly controversial, 5/20 rule that makes it mandatory for an airline to have five years of domestic operations and 20 aircraft to be eligible for international operations.
"It (the rule tweak) will improve domestic connectivity further," an aviation ministry official said.
Changing the minimum time requirement will mean Vistara and AirAsia India, which were launched in 2015 and 2014, respectively, will not have to wait five years to fly abroad as long as they have a domestic fleet strength of 20. At present, Vistara has nine planes, while AirAsia India has six aircraft.
In February, AirAsia group chief Tony Fernandes had said the company's Indian arm would beef up its fleet strength to eight aircraft and increase it to 16-20 later.
07/04/16 Telegraph
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This will replace the earlier, highly controversial, 5/20 rule that makes it mandatory for an airline to have five years of domestic operations and 20 aircraft to be eligible for international operations.
"It (the rule tweak) will improve domestic connectivity further," an aviation ministry official said.
Changing the minimum time requirement will mean Vistara and AirAsia India, which were launched in 2015 and 2014, respectively, will not have to wait five years to fly abroad as long as they have a domestic fleet strength of 20. At present, Vistara has nine planes, while AirAsia India has six aircraft.
In February, AirAsia group chief Tony Fernandes had said the company's Indian arm would beef up its fleet strength to eight aircraft and increase it to 16-20 later.
07/04/16 Telegraph
