Air Cargo Policy

The Government is planning on bringing a new cargo policy for aviation.
The aim of the policy is to provide thrust to the air cargo’s and to boost the Aviation economy.
India air cargo industry has to grow at 30% to realize the vision of national civil aviation policy. To achieve the target of ten Billion tonnes by the year 2027.
By doing so it will boost the make in India Initiative.
It will generate massive amount of employment.
The Policy will eliminate the bottleneck faced by the aviation industry.

Category I to be rationalized based on a transparent criterion, i.e., flying distance of more than 700km, average seat factor of 70% and above and annual traffic of 5 lakh passengers.
The percentage of Cat.I traffic to be deployed on Cat.II, and IIA will remain the same while for CATIII it will be 35%. Routes to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh included in Category II.
Revised categorization to apply from winter schedule of 2017.
Their view of routes will be done by MoCA once every5 years.
5/20 Requirement

Replaced with a scheme which provides a level playing field
All airlines can now commence international operations provided that they deploy 20 aircraft or 20% of total capacity (in term of average number of seats on all departures put together), whichever is higher for domestic operations

GoI will enter into ‘Open Sky’ ASA on a reciprocal basis with SAARC countries and countries located beyond 5000 km from Delhi. For countries within 5000 km radius, where the Indian carriers have not utilised 80% of their capacity entitlements but foreign carriers /countries have utilised their bilateral rights, a method will be recommended by a Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary for the allotment of additional capacity entitlements
Whenever designated carriers of India have utilised 80% their capacity entitlements, the same will be renegotiated in the usual manner.

The Ground Handling Policy/ Instructions/Regulations will be replaced by a new framework:
The airport operator will ensure that there will be three Ground Handling Agencies (GHA) including Air India’s subsidiary/JV at all major airports as defined in AERA Act

At non-major airports, the airport operator to decide on the number of ground handling agencies, based on the traffic output, airside and terminal building capacity
All domestic scheduled airline operators including helicopter operators will be free to carry out self-handling at all airports through their regular employees
Hiring of employees through manpower supplier or contract
Workers will not be permitted for security reasons

Encourage development of airports by AAI, State Governments, the private sector or in PPP mode
Future tariffs at all airports will be calculated on a ‘hybrid till’ basis, unless specified otherwise in concession agreements. 30% of non-aeronautical revenue will be used to cross- subsidise aeronautical charges
Increase non-aeronautical revenue by better utilisation of commercial opportunities of city side land
AAI to be compensated in case a new greenfield airport is approved in future within a 150 km radius of an existing unsaturated operational AAI airport (not applicable to civil enclaves)

sMoCA will develop ‘service delivery modules’ for aviation security, Immigration, Customs, quarantine officers etc in consultations with respective Ministries/Departments
Allow Indian carriers to provide security services to other domestic airlines subject to approval of BCAS
Encourage use of private security agencies at airports for non- core security functions to be decided in consultation with MHA
Such agencies should be registered under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005 and will also be separately accredited by BCAS
Subject to minimum benchmarks being met, security architecture at the different airports will be proportionate to the threat classification and traffic volume.

Separate regulations for helicopters will be notified by DGCA after due stakeholder consultation
MoCA to coordinate with Govt agencies and other helicopter operators to facilitate Helicopter Emergency Medical Services
Helicopters will be free to fly from point to point without prior ATC clearance in airspace below 5000 feet and areas other than controlled or prohibited or restricted airspace
Airport charges for helicopter operations will be suitably rationalized
The existing policy of allowing Inclusive tour package charters will be further reviewed to include more categories of passenger charter flights recognised globally.
Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul
The MRO business of Indian carriers is around Rs 5000 crore, 90% of which is currently spent outside India. In the budget for 2016-17, customs duty has been rationalised and the procedure for clearance of goods simplified. Further incentives proposed in the policy to give a push to this sector:
MoCA will persuade State Governments to make VAT zero- rated on MRO activities
Provision for adequate land for MRO service providers will be made in all future airport/heliport projects where potential for such MRO services exists
Airport royalty and additional charges will not be levied on MRO service providers for a period of five years from the date of approval of the policy

Estimated direct additional employment requirement of the Civil Aviation Sector by 2025 is about 3.3 lakh.
All training in non-licensed category will conform to National Skill Qualification Framework standards. MoCA will provide full support to the Aviation Sector Skill Council and other similar organisations/agencies for imparting skills for the growing aviation industry.
There are nearly 8000 pilots holding CPL but who have not found any regular employment. MoCA will develop a scheme with budgetary support for Type- rating of Pilots. The detailed scheme will be worked out separately.

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