Airline News
India’s 5/20 Rule to go and Air India announces its longest non-stop flight
September 25th 2015
Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has endorsed the scrapping the 5/20 eligibility rule that bars Indian carriers from flying overseas until they complete five years of domestic service and operate a minimum 20 aircraft. As a result, Vistara and AirAsia India may soon commence servicing international destinations. Read More » Modi said the rule should be scrapped, an unnamed official attending a meeting on new civil aviation policy told The Economic Times. "If the rule is stifling the growth of our carriers, the rule should completely be abolished and not replaced. What is the need to replace a rule with something when the rule itself is not pro-growth," the official said, quoting Modi.
Removal of the regulation will widen the divide between the new and old carriers. Jet Airways, the nation's oldest private airline, as well as IndiGo and SpiceJet, which had to meet the conditions under the 5/20 rule before they were allowed to fly overseas, are against its abolition. According to them, scrapping of the rule would give new entrants an unfair advantage.
"No one except Jet Airways has benefited from 5/20 regulation and it is time to correct this distortion immediately," said CAPA consultant, Kapil Kaul. "The country cannot continue with our policy of liberalising for foreign carriers and restricting/constraining the Indian carriers," he said. "This does not happen anywhere else and cannot be supported."
Debt laden flag carrier, Air India, is gearing up for major reforms, its new chairman and managing director, Ashwani Lohani, has said. The carrier’s employees should adopt a "more determined approach" to ensure its turnaround becomes a reality, Lohani specified, adding he sought greater employee involvement, particularly in maintaining aircraft cleanliness and on-time performance. Last Monday the airline announced senior executives would undertake surprise checks to monitor and supervise the safety and cleanliness of aircraft.
Quoting a senior Air India official, The Times of India reported the flag carrier planned to launch the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight between IT hotspots Bengaluru and San Francisco, with one of its three remaining B777-200LRs (it sold five to Etihad Airways last year). “Now oil is at a multi-year low and Air India has the equipment to operate ultra-long-haul flights using its mostly unused -200LRs,” the official said. He added the Delhi-based carrier was “planning a direct service between Ahmedabad and London due to huge demand.” As well, the carrier is studying the option of premium economy “as [it] sees the demand growing for this product globally," a top Air India official told PTI, but he cautioned it would take time for a decision to be made.
At Vistara, the management is considering halving the number of business class seats on its A320s to eight, India’s Business Standard has reported, after the airline recorded the worst load factor among all major Indian carriers in August, at 60%. The configuration change is expected after Vistara receives its tenth A320 in early 2016, and would result in more economy class seating. Aviation experts have pointed out Vistara’s relative lack of a broad network of business destinations for its difficulty in attracting premium customers.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) statistics for August said domestic air travel in the country grew 21% year-on-year. SpiceJet had the best load factor, at 92%, followed by Jet Airways at 80% and Air India’s 79%. IndiGo reported 76.8% and Go Air and AirAsia India posted passenger loads of 75.6% and 72.1%, respectively.
