Easy Fly-Ins, Easy Fly-Outs

A very promising and lucrative market, business aviation in India, claim industry experts and watchers as well as stakeholders, has not been able to take off the way it should.

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It remains under exploited – largely due to a maze of rules and regulation that both Indian aircraft owners and foreign jet setters find it tough to negotiate. Further, the rules get tougher if high net worth individuals have a last minute travel plan on a weekend, because government offices are unable to give the required clearances.

Now, the country is all set to make it easier for private planes and charter jets to fly in and out of the country. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has agreed to eliminate a rule that requires Indian-registered business and charter aircraft flying abroad to obtain an authority number, also called a YA number. A Draft Civil Aviation Requirement on the subject is already available on the DGCA website for comments.

The YA number is a requirement unique to India. Regulatory body DGCA was obligated as a signatory of ICAO to ensure and certify that an aircraft flying to the seven zones of the world has the operational capability to fly. Today, no developed country requires the YA number. It also amounted to recertification every time an Indian registered aircraft flew abroad.

Speaking about the issue, Rohit Kapur, President, BAOA, said, “The withdrawal of the YA number, which often took approximately two three days to be released, has been accepted by DGCA because all general aviation aircraft in the country have been certified following an ICAO safety audit of India in 2012 that found significant safety concerns. However, foreign operators will require the YA number, which goes without saying is due to safety issues of national security, which is the primary concern.”