Federation of Indian Airlines meets commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: As the New Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) nears completion, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has gone into an overdrive aand met commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman today and raised concerns over a few proposal in the policy.

The meeting with commerce minister comes a day after they met Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh.

The FIA has raised concerns over a proposal in the policy allowing foreign carriers to own more than 51% in the Indian carriers. Currently, foreign carriers are allowed to own only 49% in their Indian peers.

They also complained that the current Indian FDI rules do not regulate the substantial ownership clause in a manner it should.

According to FDI rules, substantial ownership clause mandates that key decisions in the airline should be taken by the Indian promoter in any carrier. FIA alleges that a lot of decision in Vistara and AirAsia India are taken by their foreign partners Singapore International Airlines and AirAsia, respectively.

Arun Bhatia, a stakeholder in AirAsia India, had told ET that all key decisions about AirAsia India are taken by its foreign parent Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad.

The FIA also complained raised their opposition on the removal of 5 year and 20 aircraft international flying norms and plans to auction bilateral rights.