Govt plans to revise norm for domestic carriers to fly

To address the imbalance between domestic and foreign carriers, government plans to revise a rule which require local airlines to have least five-year operational experience and 20 aircraft fleet to fly overseas.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma today said there are plans to revise the existing '5/20' rules for Indian carriers to operate international flights.
"The reason for the revision include addressing the imbalance between Indian and foreign carriers in utilisation of bilateral traffic rights," he told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
To a query on whether abolishing this eligibility criteria would expedite utilisation of bilateral rights, the Minister replied in the affirmative.

"Operation of more airlines on international routes can address the imbalance in utilisation of bilateral traffic rights in various markets where the Indian carriers are not matching up to the capacity deployment of foreign carriers," Sharma said in another written reply.
In 2014, Indian carriers utilised 32 per cent of the traffic rights on international routes against total entitlements available while the utilisation by foreign airlines stood at 62 per cent during the same period.

Sharma, in another written reply, said the government's role is to provide legal framework for operation of Indian carrier on international route.
"However, operation of any airlines is guided by their commercial viability and planning. Government does not interfere with it," he said.

He was replying to a query whether there are government proposals to provide a level-playing field for domestic carriers flying abroad vis-a-vis foreign airlines.