Rival airlines up lobbying against relaxing intl ops rules for Tata-SIA

Suddenly, there is a frosty silence at the mention of the 5/20 rule in the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This rule makes it mandatory for domestic airlines to have a 20 aircraft fleet and five year domestic operation record before they can be allowed to fly abroad. Minister Ajit Singh has said many a times in the recent past that this rule is discriminatory and needs to be relaxed. Last month, senior Ministry officials had confirmed that a Cabinet Note was being prepared on the matter and that the regulator DGCA was being consulted before a proposal is sent to the Cabinet. The sense that time was that domestic airlines will be allowed international operations without having to fulfill either the 5 year domestic operation requirement or the 20-aircraft rule. But something has obviously changed in a matter of weeks.

Two separate officials in the know dismissed any concerns over the 5/20 rule, with one saying "why does it need to be amended now? The only contender which wanted this relaxed was GoAir but it is now ordering aircraft to conform to the fleet size". This official shrugged when asked about new airlines - AirAsia India and Tata-SIA - which are eagerly awaiting the lifting of five year domestic operations' restriction to go international. "Let these airlines start flying, We shall see," the official quoted earlier said. AirAsia India is expected to fly from the summer schedule of 2014 while Tata-SIA may take to the skies by the next winter schedule.
Read News in full 30/12/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post