The government has decided that domestic carriers need to operate local flights continuously for at least five years, and must have a fleet of 20 aircraft, before they could be permitted to operate on international routes.

The decision deals a blow to the plans of Air Deccan and Kingfisher Air to fly to foreign destinations in the near future.

The move leaves only Jet Airways and Air Sahara, among the existing private carriers, fit to operate on international routes. Until now, domestic airlines, with a minimum experience of three years, could fly on international routes.

According to sources, the government took such a step as it wanted only airlines with proven credentials to operate on international routes.

The  government also felt that designation of Indian scheduled carriers for operations on international routes may be subject to proven credentials of the airlines in the domestic sector.

This is particularly important as airlines, in a way, are symbols of a nation's prestige and no non-serious operators should be permitted to operate on international routes, according to sources in the ministry of civil aviation.

Both Air Deccan's G R Gopinath and Kingfisher's Vijay Mallya lobbied hard with the government for easier norms to let domestic carriers fly on international routes.

It has been pointed out that allowing low-cost carriers like Air Deccan on such routes will reduce air fares by, at least, 50 per cent. Mallya had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue, last week.

The government will also consider the plans of Air India and Indian Airlines before allowing private airlines on international routes.

Flights to Gulf countries will also be reserved for the state-run carriers and their subsidiaries for the next three years. They get most of their operational revenue and profit on international routes from these routes.

Besides, it was decided that in bilateral air services negotiations with other countries, the government would take into account the requests of eligible private airlines.

However, if the total entitlement falls short of requirements, seats will be allocated to private carriers on the basis of their domestic operations.

In case the total entitlement falls short of requirements projected by the eligible airlines, inter-se allocations for entitlements amongst the eligible airlines will be in the ratio of available seat per kilometre deployed by them on domestic routes over the past five years, according to sources.

The government will also review the entitlements given to the private carriers in the event of any of them reducing domestic operations after obtaining traffic rights for international routes.

The ministry of civil aviation is expected to draw up a detailed guideline regarding this.