New aviation policy soon

THE HINDU,10JUN2015

The Central Government expects to finalise the long pending new aviation policy and also the much debated revised international flying norms for domestic carriers within a month, according to a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official.

Industry is keenly looking forward for both the policies, amid increasing traffic and competition from both domestic and foreign players.

Airports privatisation

There will be no rolling back on the decision to privatise airports, he added.

“We are almost close to finalising the two policies and would be ready in a month,” the senior official said.

There has been much debate about doing away with the ‘5/20’ norms, which allows only those carriers having been in operation for at least five years and with a fleet of at least 20 aircraft to fly on international routes.

The Federation of Indian Airlines, which has IndiGo, Spicejet, Jet Airways and GoAir as its members, has opposed the move for any relaxation in the 5/20 norm, while Vistara and AirAsia India have been strongly in favour of doing away with the rule.

The senior official said the Ministry would look at having some more discussions on the subject, before relaxing the norms.

No plans for rollback

On the privatisation, the official said there are no plans to roll back the decision.

Airports Authority had recently extended the deadline for submitting bids for control of four State-run airports in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur to July 1.