Union Minister of Civil Aviation Sh. Ajit Singh has approved constitution of a new “Aircraft Acquisition Committee” (AAC). The Committee will consider, examine and make recommendations on all proposals for providing air transport services and for permitting import or acquisition of aircraft for various purposes. Along with this the procedure for consideration and approval of applications hasalso been streamlined significantly withtimelines stipulated for various stages of processing. The composition of the new AAC is as follows:
(i) Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser- Chairman
(ii) Shri H. S. Khola, Former DGCA- Member
(iii) Chairman, Airports Authority of India- Member
(iv) Director General, Civil Aviation- Member
(v) Commissioner, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security- Member
(vi) Joint Secretary (Domestic Transport)- Member Convenor
The Domestic Transport Section in the Ministry of Civil Aviation will serve as the Secretariat of the Committee.The AAC shall examine and appraise applications/proposals, from the perspectives of air transport capacity required to meet the air traffic demand, as well as the safety, security, financial, commercial and other relevant aspects of the proposal to ensure orderly growth of air transport services. After examination and appraisal, the AAC shall make appropriate recommendations on the following categories of proposals:
(i) Operation of Scheduled Air Transport Services,
(ii) Operation of Regional Scheduled Air Transport Services,
(iii) Operation of Non-Scheduled Air Transport Services
(iv) Acquisition of aircraft for Flying Training Institutes
(v) Acquisition of aircraft for private use
(vi) “In-Principle Approval” for import/acquisition of aircraft on the request of the applicant to enter into long-term contract of supply with other parties like manufacturer, lessor or financer and also to plan their operations in future.
(vii) Extension for initial ‘No Objection Certificates’ and import permissions.
(viii) Actual induction of aircraft for which ‘In-principle’ approval has been obtained earlier.
(ix) Replacement of aircraft if the seating capacity of the replacement aircraft exceeds by more than 10% of the capacity of the aircraft being replaced.