Vistara, AirAsia India and Air India officials met the Union Civil Aviation Secretary, R. N. Choubey on Wednesday, to discuss the draft civil aviation policy.
The incumbent airlines represented by its body Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) didn’t turn up for the meeting and asked for another extension to express their views on the draft civil aviation policy, sources said.
The civil aviation industry is divided in their views on the international flying norms, also known as the 5/20 rule. While the new airlines have demanded complete abolition of the 5/20 rule, the private incumbent airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and GoAir, have opposed any move to relax the rule.
According to the 5/20 rule, any airline with five years of domestic flying experience and 20 aircrafts in its fleet is allowed to fly on international routes.
“We shared our feedback on the draft civil aviation policy in the meeting. The ministry heard our views on 5/20 rule,” said AirAsia’s CEO and Managing Director Mittu Chandilya.
Sources said the Union civil aviation ministry asked the airlines their views on what could be the best replacement to 5/20 if the rule is not abolished completely. However, the new airlines called for complete scrapping of the 5/20 rule which is restricting them from flying abroad.
Even as FIA asked for postponing the date to present its views, sources said the Union civil aviation ministry is keen to send the draft civil aviation policy for inter-ministerial comments in the first week of January.
The draft policy was released in October this year.
