Chennai: The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) is likely to permit the sale and purchase of Available Seat Kilometre (ASKM) between airlines to fulfill their route dispersal guideline requirements, and has asked the airlines to rethink their views on it.
Allowing sale and purchase of ASKMs - a measure of the number of seats offered by airlines - between airlines was allowed since 1994 but was stopped after this was not mentioned in the new civil aviation policy. The airline industry has been divided on the issue with Air India, IndiGo and Jet Airways opposing its reinstatement, while SpiceJet, Vistara and AirAsia India favour it.
Sources said the ministry has asked airlines to reconsider their stand and a meeting would be called to discuss the issue soon. “This policy was always there but was inadvertently omitted while the new civil aviation policy was made. “We are not averse to allowing it again, but the airlines need to agree on it,” he said. Under the RDG, airlines are mandated to allocate a certain number of flights on low-density routes. The rules allowed airlines, which could not operate enough flights on low-density routes, to buy these ASKMs from an airline that has operated more than the required number of flights on low-density routes. (Source: ET)
