Travel by Air: RBE No.49/2016 – Permission to Travel
No.F(E)I/2016/AL-28/25, dated 16.05.2016
Sub: Permission to Travel by Airlines other than Air India.
1. The Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance vide their OM’s No.F.No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated, 13th July, 2009, 16th September, 2010 and 28th July 2011, had decided that in all cases of official air travel (both domestic and international) including air travel for the purpose of LTC, where the Government Of India bears the cost of air passage, the officials concerned shall travel only by Air India. The DoE had also given mandate to Civil Aviation (MoCA) to grant permission to travel by airlines other than Air India, in case of operational or other reasons or on account of non-availability of Air India flights on any route.
2. Now, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation vide his D.O. No.18011/05/2012-AI, dated 07.03.2016 has communicated with due approval or Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, the delegation of powers to the Financial Advisors of the Ministries to grant permission to travel by airlines other than Air India with effect from 1st April, 2016. The delegated power has to be exercised in accordance with the instructions contained in the Department of Expenditure’s O.M. Nos.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dt. 13.07.2009, 16.09.2010 & 28.07.2011 (copies enclosed).
3. As per the guidelines issued by Ministry of Civil Aviation, sectors on which general relaxation for travel by Airlines other than Air India has been accorded by them are given at Annexure II, III & IV.
4. It has been decided by Board that in deserving cases of air travel by airlines other than Air India for the sectors not covered in the Annexure II, III & IV, due to operational, or non-availability or other reasons, the individual cases may be referred to Board’s Office for relaxation with supporting documents as per proforma enclosed (Annexure-I).
5. All the officers who are entitled to travel by Air are requested to scrupulously comply with the guidelines of air travel (copy enclosed).
6. Hindi version is enclosed.
7. Please acknowledge receipt.
GUIDELINES FOR RELAXATION TO TRAVEL BY AIRLINES OTHER THAN AIR INDIA
Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation Vide his D.O. No.18011/05/2012-AI, dated 7th March, 2016 to all Ministries/ Departments has communicated the delegation of powers to the Financial Advisers of the Ministries to grant permission to travel by airlines other than Air India with effect from 1st April, 2016, with due approval of Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The delegated, power has to be exercised in accordance with the instructions contained in the DFoE’s OM Nos.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 13.07.2009, 16.09.2010 & 28.07.2011. Apart from these three basic instructions DoE and DoP&T have also issued various related instructions which are available on their respective websites which also need to be followed scrupulously.
Accordingly, Ministry of Railway has devised the following guidelines for processing the requests for relaxation to travel by airlines other than Air India. These guidelines are broadly based on the OMs/ instructions mentioned in the preceding para and the guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in this regard available on their website.
1. The request for relaxation must be submitted to Railway Board at least 10 working days in advance from the date of travel.
2. Request for seeking relaxation is required to be submitted in the Proforma (Annexure-I), duly filled in.
3. Sectors on which General/ blanket relaxation has been accorded by Ministry of Civil Aviation are available at Annexure-II, III & IV. There is no requirement to seek relaxation for these sectors. However, these sectors may be revised by the Government of India from time to time. This may be kept in view while seeking the relaxation.
4. Those seeking relaxation on ground of Non-Availability of seats (NAS) must enclose NAS Certificate issued by authorized travel agents – M/s. Balmer Lawrie & Co., Ashok Travels & Tours and IRCTC (to the extent IRCTC is authorized as per DoP&T O.M. No.31011/6/2002-Estt.(A), dated 02.12.2009)/ a copy of the sector specific snapshot of Air India Website i.e. www.airindia.in.
5. The Non-Availability of seats certificate to be provided should be as per the journey to be performed e.g. for the journey from Dibrugarh to Delhi, the non-availability of seat certificate should be for Dibrugarh-Kolkata and Kolkata-Delhi route separately and not for Dibrugarh-Delhi route.
6. As per Ministry of finance, Department of Expenditure OM No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 13th July, 2009 for sectors which are not connected directly by any of the airlines, an employee must travel by Air India upto the nearest hub. Relaxation will be granted for the remaining segment.
7. Availability of lower fare is no criteria for seeking relaxation.
8. Those seeking relaxation on the ground of attending meeting at a particular time, must attach meeting notice and approved tour programme.
9. For foreign travel cases, where full or partial grants are received, journey has to be performed on Air India upto the place upto which Air India is available and seek relaxation for the remaining sector. On International routes where Air India has code-share partner, the same must be utilized.
10. For inivitees from abroad travelling on Government of India funding, efforts should be made to book them on Air India code share flights to the extent possible.
11. Non-receipt of approval by the stipulated date does not entitle one to claim relaxation as a matter of right.
ANNEXURE-I
PROFORMA FOR RELAXATION TO TRAVEL BY AIRLINES OTHER THAN AIR INDIA
| S.No. | Item of Information | Remarks |
| 1 | Name | |
| 2 | Designation | |
| 3 | Name of the Organization/Division/Railway | |
| 4 | Date of visit | |
| 5 | Whether Foreign travel/ Domestic travel | |
| 6 | In case of official visit, kindly link approved tour programme | |
| 7 | Whether entitled for Air travel as per rules. If not, kindly link the approval of competent authority for air travel | |
| 8 | Reasons for seeking permission to travel in airlines other than Air India (Foreign/ Domestic) | |
| (a) | Whether Air India does not have flights in that sector at all | |
| (b) | Whether Air India does not have flights in that sector on the schedule date of travel | |
| (c) | Whather there is no availability of ticket in the entitled class of travel in Air India flights in that sector on the scheduled date of travel | |
| (d) | Any other reason | |
| 9 | Kindly either link print out from official website of Air India and Govt. authorized travel agents viz. Ashok Travels & Tours, Balmer Lawrie & Co. and IRCTC regarding the above reasons of official communication from Air India and these agencies | |
| 10 | In case of foreign travel, if full or part journey is proposed through alliance partner of Air India, ticket should be obtained from the office or official websites of Air India or authorized agents viz. Balmer Lawrie & Co., Ashok Travels & Tours, IRCTC, for obviating any complication while preferring the reimbursement claim | |
| 11 | Kindly link an undertaking from the travelling official that in case permission is granted for air journey other than by Air India, he/she will avail the cheapest available ticket in the entitled category among the options of various private airlines operating in that sector. The ticket needs to be booked using the airlines own official website or through authorized agents, viz. Balmer Lawrie & Co., Ashok Travels & Tour and IRCTC | |
| 12 | Kindly link reeonamenclation of Head of the Department/ Organizatien (attached/ sub-ordinate offices) | |
| (Signature of the individual travelling) | (Signature of the Head of the Organization) | |
| RECOMMENDATION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION/ MINISTRY | ||
| (Signature of Head of the Department) |
Note: In case the individual travelling is of the level of SAG and above on the Railways, no separate approval of Head of Department/ Administrative Office/ General Manager is required for seeking such permission (tour programme duly approved by competent authority may however be linked). in such cases, self-certification by the travelling officer (SAG & above) will be sufficient for submitting their proposal for grant of the said permission.
Annexure-II
| Sl.No. | Sectors | Sl.No. | Sectors |
| 01 | Ahmedabad – Pune – Ahmedabad | 02 | Ahmedabad – Jaipur – Ahmedabad |
| 03 | Ahmedabad – Indore – Ahmedabad | 04 | Bangalore – Coimbatore – Bangalore |
| 05 | Bangalore – Vishakhapatnam – Bangalore | 06 | Chennai – Coimbatore – Chennai |
| 07 | Chemai – Tutioorin – Chennai | 08 | Chandigarh – Srinagar – Chandigarh |
| 09 | Guwahati – Dibragarb – Guwhati | 10 | Guwahati – Bagdogra – Guwahati |
| 11 | Hyderabad – Bhubaneswar – Hyderabad | 12 | Hyderabad – Bhopal – Hyderabad |
| 13 | Hyderabad – Cochin – Hyderabad | 14 | Hyderabad – Coimbatore – Hyderabad |
| 15 | Hyderabad – Nagpur – Hyderabad | 16 | Hyderabad – Rajamundry – Hyderabad |
| 17 | Hyderabad – Raipur – Hyderabad | 18 | Hubli – Bangalore – Hubli |
| 19 | Jaipur – Jammu – Jaipur | 20 | Jaipur – Hyderabad – Jaipur |
| 21 | Kolkata – Raipur – Kolkata | 22 | Kolkata – Visakhapatnam – Kolkata |
| 23 | Lucknow – Patna – Lucknow | 24 | Luoknow – Kolkata – Lucknow |
| 25 | Mumbai – Bhuj – Mumbai | 26 | Mumbai – Diu – Mumbai |
| 27 | Mumbai – Nanded – Mumbai | 28 | Mumbai – Porbandar- Mumbai |
| 29 | Mumbai – Jabalpur – Mumbai | 30 | Mumbai – Pune – Mumbai |
| 31 | Mumbai – Vadodara – Mumbai | 32 | Nagpur – Kolkata – Nagpur |
| 33 | Nagpur – Hyderabad – Nagpur | 34 | Nagpur – Pune – Nagpur |
| 35 | Nagpur – Bangalore – Nagpur | 36 | Nagpur – Indore – Nagpur |
| 37 | Varanasi – Kolkata – Varanasi |
Annexure-III
| Sl.No. | Sectors | Sl.No. | Sectors |
| 01 | Agartala – Guwahati – Agaitala | 02 | Amritsar – Srinagar – Amritsar |
| 03 | Bhopal – Raipur – Bhopal | 04 | Bangalore – Tuticorin – Bangalore |
| 05 | Bangalore – Raipur – Bangalore | 06 | Bangalore – Pondicherry – Bangalare |
| 07 | Bangalore – Belgaum – Bangalore | 08 | Chennai – Kozhikode – Chermai |
| 09 | Chennai – Rajamundry – Chennai | 10 | Chennai – Tiruchirapali – Chennai |
| 11 | Chennai – Vishakhapatnam – Chermai | 12 | Delhi – Gorakhpur – Delhi |
| 13 | Guwahati – Aizawl – Guwahati | 14 | Hyderabad – Indore – Hyderabad |
| 15 | Hyderabad – Pondicherry – Hyderabad | 16 | Indore – Nagpur – Indore |
| 17 | Indore – Bangalore – Indore | 18 | Jorhat – Guwahati – Jorhat |
| 19 | Jorhat – Kolkata – Jorhat | 20 | Mumbai – Hubli – Mumbai |
| 21 | Mumbai – Surat – Murnbai | 22 | Munabai – Belgaum – Mumbai |
| 23 | Mumbai – Bhavnagar – Mumbai | 24 | Patna – Ranchi – Patna |
| 25 | Varanasi – Kolkata – Varanasi | 26 | Varanasi – Lucknow – Varanasi |
Annexure – IV
| Sl.No. | Sectors | Sl.No. | Sectors |
| 01 | Bhopal – Jabalpur – Bhopal | 02 | Bhubaneswar – Kolkata – Bhubaneswar |
| 03 | Bhubaneswar – Visakhapatnam – Bhubaneswar | 04 | Calicut – Bangalore – Calicut |
| 05 | Chentai – Belgaum – Chennai | 06 | Chennai – Bhubaneswar – Chennai |
| 07 | Chennai – Pune – Chennai | 08 | Guwahati – Jaipur – Guwahati |
| 09 | Guwahati – Silchar – Guwahati | 10 | Kolkata – Patna – Kolkata |
| 11 | Kolkata – Ranchi – Kolkata | 12 | Pune – Indore – Pune |
| 13 | Pune – Kochi – Pune | 14 | Mumbai – Hubli – Mumbai |
| 15 | Visakhapatnam – Vijayawada – Visakhapatnam |
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Expenditure)
F.No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 13.07.2009
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Sub: Air Travel on official account – both domestic and International
1. In partial modifioation of this Ministry’s OM No. F.No.7(2)/E.Coord/2006, dated 23rd November, 2006 and in supersession of this Ministry’s OM No.19024/1/E.IV/2005, dated 24.03.2008, it has been decided that in all cases of air travel, both domestic and international; where the Government of India bears the cost of air passage, the officials concerned may travel only by Air India.
2. For travet to stations not connected by Air India, the officials may travel by Air India to the hub/ point closest to their eventual destination, beyond which they may utilise the services of another airline which should also preferably be an alliance partner of Air India.
3. In all cases of deviation from these orders because of operational or other reasons or on account of non-availability, individual cases may be referred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for relaxation.
4. All Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India are requested to strictly adhere to thesa instructions.
5. These orders will also apply to officials in autonomous bodies funded by Government of India.
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Expenditure)
F.No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 16.09.2010
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Sub: Guidelines on Air Travel on Tours/ LTC.
This Department is receiving repeated references seeking clarifications with regards to purchase of Air tickets through authorized agents and relaxation for travel by Airlines other than Indian Airlines. The following guidelines may be noted for compliance:
1. On Official Tours:
(i) For travel by Airlines other than Air India because of operational or other reasons or on account of non-availability of Air India flights, individual cases for relaxation to be referred to M/o Civil Aviation, as stated in this Ministry’s OM No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 13.07.2009.
(ii) Air Tickets may be purchased directly from Airlines (at Booking counters/ Website of Airlines) or by utilizing the services of Authorized Travel Agents viz. M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company, M/s Ashok Travels & Tours.
2. LTC:
(i) Travel by Air India only.
(ii) In Economy class only, irrespective of entitlement.
(iii) LTC-80 ticket of Air India only to be purchased.
(iv) Air Tickets may be purchased directly from Airlines (at Booking counters/ Website of Airlines) or by utilizing the services of Authorized Travel Agents viz. M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company, M/s Ashok Travels & Tours and IRCTC (to the extant IRCTC is authorized as per DoP&T OM No.31011/6/2002-Estt.(A), dated 02.12.2009).
3. LTC for J & K:
(i) Relaxation to travel by Private Airlines to visit J&K while availing LTC is available to all the categories of Govt. employees, including those entitled to travel by Air [DoP&T OMs No.31011/2/2003-Estt.(A-IV), dated 18.06.2010 and 05.08.2010 refer].
(ii) For purchase of Air tickets, however, the procedure as given under para 2 (iv) above should be followed.
4. All Ministries Departments of Government of India are requested to strictly adhere to these instructions.
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Expenditure)
F.No.19024/1/2009-E.IV, dated 16.09.2010
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
1. The Ministry of Civil Aviation may refer to their OM No.AV.1811/04/2010-AI, dated 12.7.2011, wherein clarifications have been issued regarding air travel on Tour/ LTC.
2. The M/o Civil Aviation is advised that while considering cases for relaxation to travel by airlines other than Air India, for journey to be performed while availaing of LTC by Govt. officials, the relaxation should be given in exceptional cases only, whenever justified and not in a routine manner, as Govt. officials have the option to reschedule their air travel, while availing LTC.
3. This has the approval of Joint Secretary (Personnel).
Download Railway Board Circular RBE No.49/2016
Forward reference ⇒ RBE No.122/2016, RBE No.100/2017, RBE No.201/2017,