Indian ministers¡¯ meet on civil aviation Policy today

The issue of allowing more domestic airlines into the international skies is likely to come up for scrutiny on Tuesday at the first meeting of the Group of Ministers set up to examine the civil aviation policy.

The policy does not make a mention about allowing more airlines to fly overseas, though the Ministry of Civil Aviation has approached the Cabinet seeking permission for such a provision on a case-to-case basis.

This was not accepted by the Union Cabinet and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, decided to constitute a 10-member Group headed by the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to look into the policy.

The Group includes the Ministers for Finance, Tourism, Defence and Civil Aviation, apart from the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.

The domestic airline industry is divided on the issue of allowing more players into the international skies.

Currently, an airline should have completed five years of domestic operations and have a minimum fleet of 20 aircraft before it is allowed to operate overseas.

While sections are of the opinion that the criteria should remain, there are those who prefer a dilution in the norms as a majority of international traffic from and to India is carried by foreign airlines.

“Where is the infrastructure to allow more airlines to operate? If more airlines are allowed to enter, the losses, which are currently estimated at Rs 2,000 crore annually, would mount further,” said a senior airline official.

“When more infrastructure is created, more players should be allowed. This is the model followed in China; see the way the sector has grown there.”

The argument, however, is countered by other players who say that not relaxing the rules would be detrimental to the growth of the sector.

Currently, only Air India, Air India Express, Indian and Jet Airways are allowed to operate internationally.

Apart from the issue of allowing more airlines to start international operations, the Group would look at the creation of merchant airports and plans to corporatise the air traffic control system.