New civil aviation policy by early next year: Minister

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has said the new civil aviation policy is in the final stage of approval and will be announced by early next year.

The draft policy, which was circulated among the general public for their views to bring about suitable changes, received more than three lakh responses. There were a number of valuable suggestions. After factoring in the various comments and suggestions, the policy will be fine-tuned, he said.

Speaking at the Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad, about 35 km from here, after the launch of the electronic-boarding facility, Raju said the policy is under finalisation and then taken to the Cabinet for approval before it is announced.

Asked about the 5/20 rule for flying international, the Minister said, “I always felt that it was not a right approach and expressed my views on the same. I have also raised the issue at the Cabinet and hope this will soon come to an end,” he said.

To fly overseas, the current 5/20 norm requires domestic carriers to be in operation for at least five years and have an aircraft fleet of 20.

Some of the relatively recent operators have been asking the Ministry of Civil Aviation to relax the norms.

Launching a first-of-its-kind e-boarding facility at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Hyderabad, Raju said the pilot project was taken up by airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore. “And in a phased manner, we expect to see this being implemented in all the airports in the country, adding to the convenience of the passengers,” he said.

The e-boarding facility, apart from adding to convenience of passengers, enables better administration of the airport and streamlines the processes.

Referring to new airports, he said, “While aviation is the Centre’s subject, land is a State subject. Based on interest from various States and feasibility, we provide necessary support in developing new airports.”

To cover more airlines SGK Kishore, CEO of GMR Hyderabad Airport, said, “This was the first airport in the country to implement this end-to-end electronic boarding facility. As of today, Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet have taken to this facility, next month Indigo is expected to join and gradually other airliners would be covered.”

“By next month, there will be a facility for self drop of bags and there will also be no need for handbag stamping,” he said.

After securing the approval from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in August 2015, this facility has been introduced.

The e-boarding facility eliminates the need for manual stamping of boarding cards. With a mobile e-boarding card and an Aadhar Card, a passenger can gain entry into the terminal and later board the aircraft.

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