Air Kerala fails to take wings

March 28, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 07:43 am IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

A decision to commence domestic flight operations of Air Kerala, the airline start-up conceived by the State government to provide Non-Resident Keralites (NoRKs) better connectivity to the Middle East at affordable fares, has been deferred.

The director board of Air Kerala that met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at the Secretariat on Friday decided to wait till a “clear picture” emerges on the move to amend the ‘5/20’ rule.

The move to commence domestic operations was intensified following reports that the Centre was reducing the stipulation to one year. Official sources said that there was no assurance from the Centre and that a decision would be taken at the next board meeting.

The board was of the view that more studies were needed to commence domestic flight operations of Air Kerala. The decision has come when Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), which co-owns the airline company, is in the process of leasing an aircraft and to approach the Director General of Civil Aviation for its certification. The ‘5/20’ rule allows an Indian carrier to fly abroad only after it has completed five years of domestic operations and maintains a fleet of 20 aircraft.

Under the new proposals, a domestic carrier would be eligible to fly on overseas routes only after it has earned 300 flying credits in domestic operations. An airline can accumulate Domestic Flying Credits (DFCs) by deploying more capacity on regional routes, particularly those which are under-served.

The proposed rules stipulate that a new domestic airline will only be allowed to operate on those international routes which are more than six hours of flight with 300 DFCs. But they will be allowed on shorter international routes which are less than six hours of duration once they have accrued 600 DFCs.

No assurance from Centre on ‘5/20’ rule

Next board meeting to take decision

Director board defers decision to start domestic operations

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.