India could follow an open sky policy with countries which are at least 5,000 km away from April 1 next year, Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary Civil Aviation, indicated here on Friday. In effect this means that European countries like France, Germany, UK, North and South America and Canada could benefit from such a move.
"This (open sky) will possibly come into effect possibly from April 1…. but we will have to take a call (on open sky). Open sky brings in tremendous competition in the sector. The idea is to open up the civil aviation domestic market to competition in a graded or calibrated manner,” Secretary told newspersons.
In the draft civil aviation policy states that the Government will enter into "open sky Air Services Agreement on a reciprocal basis with South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation countries and countries with territory located entirely beyond a 5,000 km radius from New Delhi".
The open sky policy which is being considered by the Government will be on a recriprocal basis and will limit the number of cities to which international airlines can operate any number of flights. In effect what this means is that if India decides to follow an open sky with the UK, India and the UK will decide on how many cities each country will allow its airlines to operate to after which the designated airlines will be allowed to operate as many flights as they like.