Cabinet refers aviation policy to GoM for consultations

New Delhi, June 15 (UNI) The union cabinet today referred long-awaited civil aviation policy to a group of ministers (GoM) for wider consultations.

Official sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will constitute the GoM by this month-end.

Entitled Vision 2020, the policy will cover guidelines for a booming air transport sector in the country.

The GoM will focus on issues like air traffic management, merchant (private airport) and norms for domestic airlines for flying on international routes, sources said.

According to existing rules, airlines need to fly five years within the country before qualifying for overseas routes. The new norms may lower the duration to three years.

Vision 2020 will also raise the foreign direct investment cap for critical areas like cargo, helicopters, sea planes and aviation infrastructure development.

A fundamentally strong economy has fuelled continuing growth of aviation sector with six new aircraft entering the national fleet every month for the past two years.

In 2006-07, airlines carried 35 million domestic passengers (up 38.5 per cent year-on-year) and 25.7 million international passengers (up 15.1 per cent).

UNI