'The 5-yr rule blatantly favours Jet, Air-India'

His company and that of his new equity partner Kingfisher Airlines have been waiting to fly in the international skies, were it not for a government restriction that allows only domestic carriers with five years of operations in India to go abroad.

But GR Gopinath, chairman of Air Deccan (in which Vijay Mallya has picked up 26 per cent), says the policy is blatantly tilted towards protecting just two carriers - Jet Airways and Air-India - to maintain their monopoly in the international skies. Excerpts from an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta:

Do you think the five-year restriction for allowing domestic carriers to fly international routes makes sense?

You don't have to be intelligent to understand that the policy blatantly supports Jet Airways and Air-India.

There is no logic for a five-year restriction, especially when you are allowing upstart foreign carriers with only few aircraft, like Nok Air and Jet Star, and no experience to operate to India. We carry 9 million passengers and have 45 aircraft, while these international carriers don't even have four to five aircraft.

There is no rule fixed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation [the regulatory body] for differential safety standards for domestic and international carriers. And what is so sacrosanct about 5 years; why not say 15 years or 20 years?

Does the policy impact Indian consumers?

Of course, it is a blatantly partisan policy. You are holding the interest of the customers to ransom and you don't want to break the cartel.

Today, all the foreign carriers price their products in line with Air-India. We should break from this and fares will drop by half. Why should lower middle class Indians not be able to fly abroad?

Have you taken up the matter with the government or Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel?

We have taken it up numerous times but they seem to be indifferent.

Do you think the airports privatisation policy is making a difference?

What has been done is a government monopoly has been replaced with a private monopoly. You have replaced one monster with another. What we need is competition between airports so that carriers get the best service and better price.

For instance, why should Delhi have one airport or why should the existing Bangalore airport be closed after the new one comes up? Competing airports help segregate traffic and provide more convenience for consumers.