How far america?

New Delhi, Nov. 16: Jet Airways has been given economic clearance to fly to the US, but more approvals are needed for the service to get off the ground.

Senior civil aviation ministry officials said the economic authority of the US department of transport had cleared Jet’s application and it would now be looked at by the Federal Aviation Authority, America’s aviation regulator.

A US embassy spokesperson confirmed this. “The department of transportation has given the economic authority to Jet Airways. This means that the airline has been cleared to fly to the US after it works out the operational details like flight timings, schedules, slots and other issues,” the spokesperson said.

The clearance by the economic authority is one of the hurdles an airline has to clear before being allowed to fly to the US and relates to availability of funds and aircraft.

Civil aviation ministry officials said once Jet’s application gets all required approvals from the US government, the department of transport would send the clearance directly to the airlines.

Last year, the Naresh Goyal-promoted carrier had been granted permission by the Indian government to fly to New York three times a week via Brussels.

The airlines’ plans were, however, grounded after an American namesake, Jet Airways Inc, alleged that the Indian carrier had links with al Qaida.

The US government has since sought a clearance from Indian authorities, which is believed to be on its way.

The red tape, which has bogged down the application so far, had seen civil aviation minister Praful Patel commenting on the delay in India itself. “If Jet is security-cleared in India, why are we unnecessarily dragging our feet? Having given clearance to operate in India after due clearance from the home ministry, why are we delaying the issue?” Patel had asked a few days ago.