National interest must decide verdict on 5/20 rule, feels AI
19 Jan 2016 4:53 AM IST
In an apparent change of stance over the much-debated 5/20 norm, state-run Air India now is of the view that national interest should be the criteria for the Government when it decides on either retaining or scrapping the rule to allow Indian carriers to fly overseas. The airline has submitted its new position on the 5/20 norm to the Civil Aviation Ministry, which has to take a final call on the issue before sending it to the Union Cabinet for approval, sources said.
Under the rule popularly called 5/20, a domestic carrier is allowed to fly abroad only after completing five years of domestic operations and having a minimum of 20 aircraft fleet. Air India’s latest stand on the issue has come under the new Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani. It had earlier taken the position, along with other airlines like Jet Airways, that status quo should be maintained on the matter. It had opposed any tweaking of the norm on the ground that it would “sound death knell” for the national carrier.
“The sudden withdrawal of the protection of 5/20 rule, might be the proverbial last nail in the national carrier’s coffin without bringing any significant benefit to the nation...In this background, Air India would recommend that the Government while rationalising the 5/20 rule may adopt a pragmatic, simple but cautious policy, based on a duel criteria of safety and extent of domestic operations,” former Air India CMD Rohit Nandan had written to the Ministry in January last year.
Significantly, two start-up carriers--AirAsia India and Vistara, which have investments from Tata group, are lobbying for removal of 5/20 rule and allowing them to fly abroad even as established players under their umbrella organisation , Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) have opposed any change. FIA comprises four domestic airlines--Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir.
The national carrier has decided to do away with the First Class cabin on its Delhi-San Francisco flight in view of “low occupancy,” barely a month after the carrier launched the services operated by a three- class B777-200LR aircraft. Air India’s decision to reconfigure these aircraft, which currently have eight first class seats, 35 business and 195 economy class seats, comes in the backdrop of heightened demand for business and economy classes, airline sources said.
The airline has three B777-200LRs in its fleet of over 125 aircraft, which would be reconfigured in phases. All these three planes are being operate on the San Francisco route. “We have seen just about 25 per cent occupancy in the First class cabin while the same for business class has picked by 30-35 per cent since the launch. Therefore, we have decided to operate the flight in two class configuration removing first class seats and adding more in the economy cabin,” airline sources said.
As part of the plan, the economy seats after the reconfiguration will go up to 298, they said. The sources, however, said that the airline will not have to deploy any more planes on the San Francisco route during the reconfiguration period, which requires grounding of an aircraft as the entire exercise will be completed on rotation.
“We have three B777-200LR and all these will not be reconfigured together, but by turn,” they said, adding that the airline was expected to incur upto $2 million on reconfiguration of each aircraft.
National carrier clears IATA’s enhanced operations safety audit
Government-run Air India on Sunday said it has cleared an enhanced operational safety audit, carried out by global airlines body International Air Transport Association (IATA), with an extended validation of up to two years. The carrier, in a statement, claimed that it has become the first domestic airline to have cleared the E-IOSA (E-IATA Operational Safety Audit) programme with an extended validation till January 2018. The IATA Board of Governors had, in June 2013, mandated the enhanced IOSA process for all registration renewal audits, taking place in or after September 2015.
Air India has been giving an increased emphasis to the safety of its operations and taken a raft of measures to enhance it, the airline said, adding, E-IOSA is the result of such measures only. The carrier had last year become the first airline to get the IOSA certification. According to the statement, Air India has established a cohesive and integrated corporate safety and quality management system, besides the flight safety department, to constantly monitor, review and address safety issues. Through an Open Reporting System, employees are encouraged to report any safety concern proactively, Air India said, adding that such a practice helps in capturing latent conditions and carrying out safety risk assessments, followed by recommended preventive and corrective action. The importance to safety can be seen from the increased safety spot checks being done to capture the frontline issues, the statement said.
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