ANSWER: Both a and b
Explanation:
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government approved the country’s first National Civil Aviation Policy for increasing air connectivity. - This is allowing new domestic airlines to fly abroad quickly and opening up the skies for European and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries.
- New airlines, such as Vistara and AirAsia, will no longer have to wait for five years before starting operations on international routes.
- Start-up airlines can now fly abroad after operating at least 20 planes or 20 per cent of their total flying capacity, whichever is higher, on domestic routes.
- According to a 2004 norm, which is also known as the ‘5/20 rule’, a domestic airline is allowed to go international only after flying for five years to domestic destinations and operating at least 20 aircraft.
- India will have an open-sky policy for countries beyond the 5,000-km radius from Delhi on a reciprocal basis.
- This means that airlines from European or Saarc countries will have unlimited access, in terms of number of flights and seats, to Indian airports, leading to increased flight frequencies with these countries.
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