Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has called senior representatives of the airline industry to look into the matter of rising air fares since the suspension of services by Go First, industry sources told Fe.
Go First had suspended flight services on May 3. The move withdrew capacity from certain routes to popular tourist destinations such as Jammu, Sri Nagar, Leh and Goa.
Before flight suspension, the airline had a capacity of carrying around 35,000 passengers on nearly 180 flights per day. To tide over the capacity constraint, the Centre allocated adhoc airport slots to other airlines.
As of now, some capacity has been added back on routes to popular tourist destinations but the average fares have risen by an estimated 30-40% causing a backlash from passengers on social media.
Speaking at an event here on Friday, Scindia said that an analysis of fares on routes such as Srinagar, Pune and Ahmedabad is being conducted and that Centre will speak to the airlines so as to keep fares within a certain limit.
The aviation industry is completed deregulated and airfares are being determined on the basis of demand and supply matrix.
Data from Yatra.com showed that airfares have significantly increased by 30-40% across all domestic sectors with popular destinations like Andaman, Goa, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, and the North-East being in high demand.
“The higher airfares are affecting air travel plans and dampening demand,” Sabina Chopra, co-founder & COO, corporate travel & head industry relations at Yatra.com told Fe.
“During summers, demand has increased by 50-60% for hill-travel destinations like Kashmir, Leh, and Ladakh, and airfares to these places have gone up by 40-50% as well.”