BANGALORE: Non-scheduled operators forum, Business Aircraft Operation Association (BAOA), criticised the proposal by aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) which proposes any non-schedule operators(NSOP) with less than 3 aircraft to be moved into private category.
The rejection of the proposal threatens to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grand plans to increase remote and regional connectivity a shot in the arm. The forum said that the move, if implemented, would see at least 80 of the 120 registered NSOPs shutting shop resulting in over 4,000 job losses in the segment. Now the forum has approached the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Prime Minister to sort out the issue.
The basic difference in NSOP is that they can have fee paying passenger in their aircraft while private operator is solely used for private purposes such as big businessmen and industry houses for their use. “BAOA on behalf of all the stakeholders of the industry, strongly opposes this public notice by the DGCA. This appears to be a knee jerk reaction which will severely impact the growth of the general and business aviation sector, forcing a large number of operators to shut shop and result in massive job losses,” Rohit Kapur, President BAOA said. Only 40 of the 120 listed operators have 3 or more aircraft.
According to the DGCA, there are 125 listed NSOP with 366 aircraft. The move will affect 150 aircraft, BAOA said. “This (proposal) is a knee jerk reaction and does not help the authorities in achieving what they are setting out to do,” Captain Karan Singh, a NSOP and aviation expert told Express.
He said that there were many operators who bought 1 or 2 aircraft for charter purposes and now it will become private.
The BAOA said that FAA rules of the US, the UK and Canada, which is considered the benchmark for aviation rules “has no such limitations”. In 2012-13, NSOP aircraft ferried a total of 1,18,681 passengers domestically.