The Hindu Business Line : Air Deccan gets in-principle nod to fly abroad

New Delhi, March 15 After Jet Airways, Air Deccan will be the second private airline from India to fly abroad. The Government has given Air Deccan an in-principle approval to start its international operations from August this year.

Meanwhile, in case the merger process between Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines formally goes through, the rights to fly abroad would immediately be eligible for transfer to Kingfisher.

Official sources told Business Line that with the approval letter, Air Deccan would now be able to approach various airports abroad and seek slots for starting flights from India.

The airline becomes eligible to start international services on August 26 when it completes five years of domestic operations. The current Government regulations stipulate that an airline must complete five years of domestic operations before it is allowed to start international flights.

At the moment, Jet Airways and its low-cost wing, JetLite (which was earlier called Air Sahara), are the private sector airlines that are permitted to operate flights abroad.

DGCA nod needed

Air Deccan will, however, still need to get its international flights approved by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before it can start operations. “At the moment, the permission is on a stand-alone basis and only for Air Deccan. But in the event of all the formalities for the merger with Kingfisher Airlines being completed before August, then the rights to operate abroad will immediately transfer to Kingfisher,” a senior Government official said.

In May last year, the UB Group, which owns Kingfisher Airlines, bought a 26 per cent stake in Deccan Aviation, which runs Air Deccan. Since then UB has increased its shareholding in Deccan Aviation, but the buyout is yet to be completed and approved by the authorities.

Destinations

Air Deccan, which has a fleet of Airbus A-320 aircraft, is likely to look to operate flights to destinations only in the Gulf and South East Asia. Kingfisher Airlines, with its commitment to purchase more than 20 wide-bodied Airbus planes, would be in a position to operate non-stop flights between India and the US west coast.

The Government has also allowed Jet Airways to start operations between Mumbai and Muscat, Kochi and Doha. In addition, it has been permitted to launch services from Delhi and Mumbai to Abu Dhabi and also connect Dhaka from Mumbai. Jet Airways already operates regular flights to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain from various cities here.

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