International flying rules: A relaxed regime, but tough conditions apply

As per the new guidelines, Indian airlines can freely enter into domestic code-share agreements with foreign carriers to any point in India if available under the respective Air Service Agreement. “For the designated carriers of India to enter into international code-share arrangements with foreign carriers in accordance with the terms of applicable ASAs, no prior approval from Ministry of Civil Aviation will be required,” as per the guidelines.

A civil aviation ministry official said the code-share ‘prior permission’ norms has been done away with and airlines now only need to inform the government and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) 30 days prior to starting the code-share flights. Indian carriers, however, would still be required to obtain prior permission of the government for joining any global alliance of airlines such as Star Alliance and One World.

For a domestic carrier seeking permission to fly abroad, it must deploy 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of its total capacity (in term of average number of seats on all departures put together), whichever is higher, for domestic operations. “For this purpose, the published schedule of airlines will be the basis for monitoring, assuming that one aircraft would have six departures per day,” the government has said. All-cargo airlines have been exempted from this requirement of having minimum 20 aircraft for
flying abroad.

If an airline starts using the international traffic rights allocated to it initially but subsequently discontinues or curtails operations, it shall immediately inform the civil aviation ministry, along with its plan for full resumption such flights. If resumption is not done within six months, the unutiliSed rights will be treated as surrendered and government may allocate these to other airlines.

The government has issued the Aeronautical Information Circular (dated August 24) containing these guidelines under rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. This circular supersedes the earlier order issued in 2009, wherein airlines were required to have a minimum of five years of domestic operation and at least 20 aircraft (the 5/20 rule), in case they wanted to fly overseas.

The Union Cabinet had in June cleared the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016), which replaces the controversial 5/20 overseas flying rule for domestic carriers with a 0/20 formulation and caps airfares under a regional connectivity scheme at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights.

The government has also said that after getting allocation of traffic rights on the international routes, airlines shall not reduce the capacity deployed on the domestic routes. In case of any reduction in the capacity on the domestic routes, the government will review the decision of allocation of traffic rights on international routes.

“The relaxation on international routes is contingent upon airlines first serving the domestic sectors,” the official quoted earlier said. To promote domestic operations, the government is also planning to reduce airport charges for airlines. This will be done through unlocking commercial potential of land around airports and use these resources to cross-subsidise airport charges, the official said.