Draft Civil Aviation Policy

Draft Civil Aviation Policy :

Ministry of Civil Aviation has released the Civil Aviation Policy for India. India has the potential to be among the global top three nations in terms of domestic and international passenger traffic. It has an ideal geographic location between the eastern and western hemisphere; a 300million strong middle class and a rapidly growing economy. Despite these advantages, the Indian aviation sector has not witnessed the level of growth it should have and at present it is ranked 10th in the world.

Main Points of Civil Aviation Policy are :

• Regional Ticket in Rs 2500 per Person :The proposed move, which could result in an increase in flight costs on trunk domestic air routes such as those connecting major metros as well as international routes, is aimed at bringing down the cost of air travel on non-metro routes to about Rs 2,500 per flying hour under a freshly conceived Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) that was unveiled in the revised draft civil aviation policy here Friday.
• Revival of 400 Airstrips/Airports of the country.
• Liberalising the bilateral regime by permitting open skies between India and SAARC nations and countries beyond 5,000 km radius of Delhi.
• Abolish service tax on MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) \services provided in India and allows increase in tax-free period for storage of spares imported by MROs.

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Civil Aviation Policy for General Aviation in India:

•  Helicopters will be free to fly from point to point without prior ATC clearance in airspace below 5000 feet and areas other than prohibited and restricted ones, after filing the flight plan with the nearest ATC office.

Civil Aviation Policy for Ground Handling :

• The airport operator will ensure that there will be at least three Ground Handling Agencies (GHA) including Air India’s subsidiary/JV at an airport to ensure fair competition. There will be no upper limit on the number of GHAs at an airport.
• Domestic airlines and charter operators will be free to carry out self-handling themselves or through their own subsidiaries or to outsource the same to other airlines or to a GHA.

Civil Aviation Policy for Air Cargo :

• Air cargo will be accorded ‘infrastructure’ status if co-located with an airport and will be eligible for Sec 80IA benefits.
• The Air Cargo Logistics Promotion Board (ACLPB) has been constituted to promote growth in air cargo by way of cost reduction, efficiency improvement and better interministerial coordination. The Board and the industry will submit a detailed action plan after stakeholder consultation, with the objective of reducing dwell time of air cargo from ‘aircraft to truck’ to below 24 hours by 31 December 2016 and to 6 hours by 31 December 2017.
• ACLPB’s action plan should ensure a shift to paper-less air-cargo processing by 1 April 2017.
• ACLPB will develop Service Delivery Modules for all elements of the air cargo value chain – airlines, airports, terminal operators, Customs House Agents (CHA), freight forwarders, and government agencies like Customs, CISF, quarantine officers etc.

Detailed Report HERE

Civil Aviation Policy didn’t had much about general aviation which is actually a bridge between flying club and airlines. India is the only country in the world where a pilot gets a job in just 200 hours. DGCA and Civil Aviation Ministry shall emphasize more on increasing general aviation in India.Air Charter Services & Air Ambulance Services shall be given more exposure.

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