Air Kerala not to be considered for international operations

The Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel told the Parliament today that the Government of Kerala has informed that a public limited company, ‘Air Kerala International Services Ltd.’, has been registered by the State Government as a Special Purpose Vehicle for a budget airline project. The Government of Kerala has requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation for exemption to the proposed airline from stipulated conditions relating to fleet size and length of operation in the domestic sector for an airline to be considered for international operations.

The request was however, not considered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, as the existing provisions of minimum fleet size of 20 aircraft and experience of five years of continuous operations in domestic sector for permitting an Indian schedule carrier to operate international services, are considered essential for safe and reliable operations on international routes.

Further, the Minister informed, the Gulf routes are presently reserved only for Air India and Indian Airlines.

Source : Press Information Bureau

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