14 March, 2015

Changes Aloft for International Indian Services

Vistara, Vistara flight, Vistara operations
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Indian domestic start-up airlines face a two and half year delay before it can start international services. 


The international ambitions of Indian start up carrier, Vistara and other domestic carriers face a minimum two and half year delay before they can even hope for launching international services. This is accordingly to the new revised route dispersal guidelines being worked on up by the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry.  These plans are expected to be approved when they go before Cabinet shortly.

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The proposed rules have been formulated as a direct replacement to replace existing rules which stipulate that an Indian carrier has to fly in the domestic skies for five years and is required to have a fleet of 20 aircraft before being allowed to fly internationally.

According to local media sources, a senior official inside the ministry said “The proposed route dispersal guidelines have certain inbuilt checks to ensure that domestic air connectivity is not affected as more and more Indian carriers start international flights. New airlines need to have a blemish free record of one year of domestic operations. They will have to have completed an annual safety audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and earned a certain number of points by meeting the guidelines for flying in India before it becomes eligible for international flights.”

“We expect that it will take a minimum of 2.5 years for a start up to achieve all these criteria,” the official added.

Currently carriers including GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India are not able to offer international services because they don't meet the current regulations.

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