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Wednesday, 21 January 2015

The 5/20 Rule likely to be scrapped and replaced by a revised aviation policy?

The new draft rules for civil aviation that are expected to replace the irksome 5/20 rule may be cleared soon, despite strong opposition from existing domestic carriers. A court battle may ensue 

Practically, from the time he took over as the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju has stated on several occasions that the existing rule of 5/20 has no parallel in any other country!

This current law of 5/20 implies that the domestic airline must have at least 5 years’ experience and a fleet of 20 aircraft before being permitted to fly on international routes.  However, it may be noted that, paradoxically, foreign airlines are allowed to fly into the country without similar restrictions.  For this reason alone, the government has been thinking in terms of scrapping the current law and replacing it by a more realistic and practical rule. Now, this is on the anvil!

The present group of existing domestic airlines, before Air Asia and Vistara came into the picture, has been vehemently opposed to this waiver of the rule, as they claim that they had to go by the book, wait for five years, and increase the fleet to 20 before being allowed to fly overseas!
16/01/15 AK Ramdas/MoneylifeUnion Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, international routes, Air Asia, Vistara, waiver of the rule, court battle, aviation policy.

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