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Assocham,To Promote Private airlines,Desires To Cage National Carrier A I

[New Delhi]Assocham,To Promote Private airlines,Desires To Cage National Carrier Air India
Air India’s 1st Right of Refusal on New Routes Should be Relooked:Assocham
Lobbying for domestic private airlines, industry body Assocham today urged the government to reconsider the ‘first right of refusal’ granted to national carrier Air India on new routes, to enable corporate-run carriers expand their international network.
“Air India’s First Right of Refusal on new routes should be relooked with the objective of private airlines getting fair opportunities to expand their international routes,” Assocham said in a paper jointly prepared with Yes Bank.
The paper also called for tweaking or abolishing all together the current norms for international operations by domestic airlines on the grounds that it would “equip Indian commercial airline operators with long term financial security and international quality standards”.
With a sharp fall in fuel prices, the Indian aviation sector can take off to a phase of sustainable growth if restrictive rules like 5/20 and First Right of Refusal to Air India in regard to international routes are dispensed with, the Assocham paper has suggested.
Under the current norms, popularly known as 5/20, domestic airlines can fly on international routes only when they have completed five years of operations in the country and have a 20-aircraft fleet.
Revisiting this rule will provide incentive for new players to enter the market due to advent of opportunity for enhancing revenues, yields and ultimately, profits, it said in the study paper titled ‘Indian Civil Aviation – At the Cusp of Taking Off’. .