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Monday 23 March 2015

AirAsia says new flying guidelines are ‘restrictive’

Mumbai: AirAsia India—the joint venture airline between Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad— is unhappy with the new guidelines the government has mooted to replace a rule that now requires domestic carriers to fly locally for five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft.


The new guidelines bring into place a credit based system wherein an airline accumulates point basis the distance it flies and is allowed to fly international once it has piled up a critical mass. There are bonus points for flying to remote areas. An accumulation of 300 of these so called Domestic Flying Credits (DFCs) will make an airline eligible to fly long haul international routes such as to the US and Europe.

Curiously, for starting flights to shorter distances in Asia or the Gulf, an airline has to accumulate double the points ie 600. AirAsia being a low fare airline would look short haul international routes and that is where the new rule would be cumbersome for it.
20/03/15 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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