Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, on Friday, approved the constitution of a new Aircraft Acquisition Committee (AAC) to be headed by Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor to consider, examine and make recommendations on all proposals for providing air transport services and for permitting import or acquisition of aircraft for various purposes.
Along with this, the procedure for consideration and approval of applications has also been streamlined significantly with timelines stipulated for various stages of processing. The other members of the committee include H. S. Khola, former DGCA, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, Director-General of Civil Aviation, and Commissioner, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. Joint Secretary (Domestic Transport) will be the convenor. The Domestic Transport Section in the Ministry of Civil Aviation will serve as the Secretariat of the committee, an official statement issued here said.
The AAC shall examine and appraise applications/proposals from the perspectives of air transport capacity required to meet the air traffic demand, as well as the safety, security, financial, commercial and other relevant aspects of the proposal to ensure orderly growth of air transport services. After examination and appraisal, the AAC shall make appropriate recommendations on issues such as operation of scheduled air transport services, operation of regional scheduled air transport services, operation of non-scheduled air transport services, acquisition of aircraft for flying training institutes, acquisition of aircraft for private use, in-principle approval for import/acquisition of aircraft on the request of the applicant to enter into long-term contract of supply with other parties like manufacturer, lessor or financer and also to plan their operations in future and replacement of aircraft if the seating capacity of the replacement aircraft exceeds by more than 10 per cent of the capacity of the aircraft being replaced.
