The Hindu Business Line : No nod yet for pvt airlines' foreign take-off

THE private sector scheduled domestic airlines will have to wait a while longer to take to the international skies as the Union Cabinet's final nod on permitting them to fly abroad is still awaited.

Sources said that at the meeting of the Cabinet here on Wednesday, the policy debate on issues connected to the civil aviation sector remained inconclusive owing to lack of time as the Cabinet members had to rush back to the Lok Sabha to exercise their vote at the conclusion of the debate on the Interim Budget 2004-05.

On the agenda for today's Cabinet meeting, among other items, was the civil aviation policy, including the issue of allowing private sector airlines abroad and an `open sky' policy for a limited period for the next few years.

Sources said that the Cabinet meeting began at about 5.15 p.m. and although close to a dozen items on the agenda were cleared within a minute or two of each being taken, the policy issues connected with the civil aviation sector led to a debate among some members of the Cabinet owing to differences of opinion.

However, the entire focus of the discussions, it is learnt, boiled down to one domestic airline - Jet Airways. The Cabinet was divided on the issue as while there were some members who were against the proposal and raised security concerns connected with the airline, the private sector airline also had support from some other members.

There were also several others in the Cabinet who kept emphasising that there was a need to take a holistic view on the issue and not focus on one airline alone.

With the clock striking 6 p.m. - even before any consensus could be arrived at - the entire Cabinet was called back to the House to vote on the Interim Budget. And with that faded the hopes of the private sector airlines to start international operations just yet.

Sources indicated that it was very unlikely that the proposals will be taken up again before the entire election process is completed.

However, there is still a ray of hope for the private sector airlines. Sources indicated that there was still a chance that the private sector airlines may be allowed to operate to the six nations of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, among others.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet had allowed the scheduled private sector airlines to operate to all the six SAARC countries.