Airlines like IndiGo, GoAir, SpiceJet write to PM Narendra Modi, oppose removal of 5/20 rule

NEW DELHI: Even as the aviation ministry made a presentation on the upcoming aviation policy to PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday that proposes to relax norms for Indian carriers to fly abroad, India's old airlines have decided to raise this issue directly with the PM. The Federation of Indian Airlines ( FIA) — a platform of IndiGo, Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir — wrote to the PM on Tuesday, opposing the proposed removal of the 5/20 rule where an Indian carrier must be five-year-old and have at least 20 planes in its fleet to fly abroad in the proposed new policy.

Aviation minister A G Raju has said earlier that 5/20 has to go. "At a time when the incumbent airlines are committed to high cost domestic networks due to the 5/20 rule and the RDG (route dispersal guidelines), the removal of these rules will vitiate the level-playing field that exists in Indian civil aviation," an FIA representation signed by IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia and addressed to the PM said.

Speaking on behalf of FIA, Bhatia said that relaxing 5/20 will "tectonically shift in favour of foreign airlines-controlled new entrants.