New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry would soon send a note on the new norms for international operations for the domestic carriers for inter-ministerial consultation, official sources said here.
The Ministry also held a meeting with the domestic airlines as well as other stakeholders like non-scheduled operators and airport operators to elicit their views on the new proposed norms.
"We are sending a note for inter-ministerial consultation. Following that, we will send the note to Cabinet for its approval," the sources said.
The current rules stipulate that the domestic carrier must have a fleet of 20 aircraft and 5 years experience before flying abroad.
As per the new proposed norms, a new airline would become eligible to apply for international operations once it has operated on domestic routes and has deployed capacity equivalent to at least 200 domestic flying credits (DFCs).
On reaching the 300 DFC milestone, the air carrier can approach the government for being designated on a long haul international route of more than 6 hours flying time.
Such deployment will have to comply with revised Route Dispersal Guidelines, they said.
"Once an airline reaches the 300 DFCs, it can approach the Government for being designated on a long haul international route of more than 6 hours flying time," they said.
"We want them to fly on routes which are of more than six hours duration as we don't want to create another Dubai or Singapore type hubs," they said, adding that the short-haul operations (less than six hours) can be permitted only when carriers have accrued a cumulative domestic capacity of 600 DFCs.
Also, if the airline fails to maintain annual capacity deployment of 200 DFCs in domestic sector, the government would have the right to review the permission.
"In such a situation, the government can curtail or withdraw the capacity entitlement on international routes as well," they said.
At the same time, airlines may also purchase DFCs from other airlines, for an amount up to 25 per cent of the requirement of the route, they said.
As per the new proposed guidelines, regional carriers would have the option to convert their flying permit into a scheduled operators permit or scheduled commuter airlines.
Besides, operators under non-scheduled permit (NSOP) will have the option to convert themselves either into scheduled commuter airline or air charter operator.
Such non-scheduled operators who are not converted into Scheduled Commuter Airline within a period of one year shall be categorized as 'air charter operators', they said.
Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Airlines sources said that the airlines have sought a two-weeks time from the government to study the proposed revised norms.
"We need time to go through the proposed changes. The 20-year-old rules just can't be rubbed off in days," they said.
