New Delhi, June 9:
Domestic air fares have risen “significantly” between April and May this
year compared with the same period last year, senior officials of the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Saturday.
The DGCA, which has come to this conclusion by looking at domestic air
fares on specific days of the month, will now broad base its analysis over a
longer period of time to see if any trend is discernible on the sudden spurt in
fares.
“There has been a spurt in fares in the last few months but they have
not breached the upper levels mandated by the DGCA,” officials said.
Officials indicated that the rise in air fares was largely due to Kingfisher
reducing the number of aircraft that it operates. Due to financial stress, the
airline has seen its fleet reduce from 64 aircraft earlier this year to 16
aircraft now. The airline is now about 100 daily flights, down from more than
400.
While the peak summer rush normally leads to an increase in demand for
air travel and consequently higher fares, the sources said it was also being
analysed whether the average costs for the airlines have also gone up during
the period.
Travel agents point out that there has been a 20-30 per cent increase in
domestic air fares in the past few months. And what is compounding the
situation is that air travel demand has increased 10-15 per cent year-on-year.
The President, Travel Agents Association of India, Mr Iqbal Mulla, felt
in the past couple of years domestic fares had gone completely haywire.
“Airlines are becoming opportunistic. Neither are they doing anything
good for the customer or for the industry. If the fares are unreasonably high
you lose a passenger forever,” Mr Mulla said.
He suggests that there should be a regulatory authority to ensure that
domestic air fares are “viable for airlines and beneficial for the passengers.”
One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it’s left behind.
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