Govt wants airlines to add flights to Kashmir, North East

Draft policy links route dispersal guidelines with overseas flying rights

Domestic airlines will have to increase flights to Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east under a proposed credit-based policy that replaces the existing route-dispersal guidelines.

The government has also linked approvals for foreign flights to mandatory operations to remote locations.

The Union civil aviation ministry issued a revised draft proposal last week after airlines and airport operators had raised concerns over an earlier one. The ministry will discuss the issue with airlines on Wednesday.

Domestic airlines now must deploy 10 per cent of their capacities on key routes to Jammu and Kashmir, north-east, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Also, domestic airlines are not allowed to fly abroad till they have five years of operations and 20 aircraft (5/20 rule). The government is reviewing this rule.

In January, the ministry proposed increasing the mandatory deployment on less-flown routes to 20 per cent. In the latest proposal, the ministry wants airlines to deploy 30 per cent of their capacity on 20 select routes. Capacity deployment within remote areas, too, is being raised from 1.5 per cent to three per cent. The airlines will earn credits on capacity deployed.

“Airlines will have to consider again network planning. With the new norms, capacity deployment in remote areas will increase significantly and some of it may be unviable,” an executive with a private airline said.

The Federation of Indian Airlines, which is opposing the relaxation of the 5/20 rule, had sought two weeks to file its response but its request was turned down. The Association of Private Airport Operators (APAO) is yet to share its comments on the revised draft.

But in January the APAO had told the ministry not to link policies on flying abroad to route dispersal. “The 5/20 rule needs to be abolished and new global routes must be confined to shortlisted metro airports under the draft policy,” the APAO wrote in its filing. New airlines like Vistara, too, are demanding the abolition of the 5/20 rule.

Under the proposed policy, airlines will require two billion domestic flying credits, an accident-free record, and a safety audit report to become eligible for global flights.

The proposal issued in January did not make a distinction between flight duration. But, according to draft rules issued last week, for long-haul flights exceeding six hours, airlines would need to have three billion flying credits.