No more delays for the approval of the aircraft imported by Indian carriers for fleet augmentation. Aviaion Minister Ajit Singh has announced on Thursday that the red tape where carriers had to approach the Aircraft Acquisition Committee to get approval for importing an aircraft to keep the schedule of the flights up and running. This would mark an end to the indefinite waits and bureaucracy of the red tape.

Flying institutes, schedule and non-schedule airlines can now induct fleet from other nations as they wish without any nod from the ministry. Ajit Singh opined that the red tape was no good and only added to the delays and hence decided to eliminate any extra procedure that could as well be avoided. The flights shall hence forth be checked only for airworthiness without any special need for approval from the ministry "as far as fleet is concerned".

Airlines have always had a problem with AAC where there were indefinite delays waiting for the approval. This resulted in great business losses for the companies while adding to the woes of the passengers for lack of proper services.

The idea of Singh being the ultimate authority who approves the flights as a part of the AAC was rejected by the PMO last year fearing delays. AAC though headed by a secretary was still dependent on the Aviation Minister for the final nod since two years ago when Vayalar Ravi was the aviation minister. Singh is now continuing the practice in his position.

With the FDI rule in place that allows foreign carriers to invest or establish newer firms in India with a 49% stake in the shares, the PMO has pushed for the smoother process and got the proposal approved.

This means that with the no-objection from DGCA, a carrier needs no other procedures to import a flight. Jet-Ethihad deal which is yet to be decided, and the Air Asia India which will soon launch in India, Indian skies will have more planes with this smoother process from the ministry.

(AW- Anil)