Govt to review norms allowing domestic carriers to fly abroad

New Delhi: The Government is likely to review the prevailing norms to allow domestic carriers to fly abroad in the next fiscal, after the proposed merger of Air India and Indian is complete.
The current guidelines are that an airline has to put in five years of domestic service and should have a fleet of at least 20 aircraft.
Official sources said, the review would be holistic and would take into account the number of international sectors available, the number of flights already being mounted by designated Indian carriers, the fleet position of various airlines who want to fly abroad and other issues.
The review would also include the Gulf sector.
As per the guidelines laid down by the Union Cabinet in December 2004, private Indian carriers are not allowed on the Gulf sector till the completion of three years in early 2008.
The officials, however, made it clear that new domestic airlines could not be allowed to simply start up a carrier and launch international flights.
18/11/06 PTI/The Hindu

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