Comments
Tata Sons is keen to put the squabble with other domestic airlines, on whether the government should do away with the 5/20 rule, behind.
“I would say let us all move on. It is a challenging market. We have some very powerful competitors let everyone give their best. I am sure that the market will reward those who are truly committed to customer interest,” Mukund Rajan, Director, Vistara Board, told newspersons soon after the airline’s exclusive lounge opened at IGI airport here.
Vistara is the brand name of a domestic airline jointly promoted by Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.
At the end of February this year, an open fight had broken out between Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Ajay Singh, SpiceJet’s promoter, on whether the Centre should remove the 5/20 rule.
“It is sad to see incumbent airlines lobbying for protection and preferential treatment for themselves against the new airlines that have been formed in full compliance with prevailing government policy and providing air transport to Indian citizens in line with the dream of a ‘new India’ promised by the new government under (Narendra) Modi’s leadership,” Ratan Tata had said in a tweet.
Singh responded saying, “All of us were asked to serve our great country before we got profitable rights to fly abroad. We served with great pride. What is wrong if these two foreign-controlled airlines are also asked to serve India before being allowed to fly international? Mr Tata, whom we respect greatly, should in fact urge these airlines in which his group is a shareholder, to serve India willingly before being allowed to fly international. While obtaining a licence, these two airlines had undertaken to follow the 5/20 rule, a rule they are now opposing so vehemently.”
A decision on the contentious 5/20 rule is expected to be taken when the Civil Aviation Ministry takes the civil aviation policy to the Cabinet. At the moment, there is no specific time frame for when the policy will be taken to the Union Cabinet.
On the issue of making more investments in Vistara, officials said that with the airline planning to expand its fleet in the coming months and the growth in the domestic aviation market it will scale up its investments without divulging details of how much funds were to be injected.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.