As many Indian Airlines are planning to go international, Civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on June 12, eased norms for Indian airlines to operate flights to a new international destination.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation has decreased the number of checkpoint from 33 to just 10 now. This is done to make it easier for airlines to expand their networks to destinations without air service.
Air India, IndiGo, Vistara and Akasa Air are looking to expand their international operations. IndiGo plans to start direct flights to six new destinations in Africa and Central Asia in August, while Air India plans to add flights to Europe, West Asia and the United States.
Interestingly, the newest entrant, Akasa Air is also planning to make a debut in the international commercial airline business in 2023.
According to DGCA notification, "The DGCA conducts this assessment to check the preparedness levels of Indian airline operators before permitting their operations to a new foreign destination. In order to further ease the process for grant of such permission the existing regulatory requirements have been comprehensively reviewed in consultation with all stakeholders and the current 33-point checklist has been rationalised and reduced to a 10-point checklist related to their preparedness for the intended operations, removing other generic and redundant provisions in the existing checklist."
“This systemic reform comes at a time when the Indian carriers are poised to expand their international footprint," the official notification added.
While the other Indian airlines are planning to go international, Wadia Group’s Go First had filed for voluntary insolvency under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and was granted bankruptcy protection by the National Company Law Tribunal.
