Tag: Domestic airlines

  • Domestic airfare caps to be removed from August 31, says government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Limits imposed on domestic airfares will be removed from August 31, after a span of approximately 27 months, the Union Aviation Ministry said on Wednesday.

    “The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel (ATF). Stabilisation has set in and we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future,” Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Twitter.

    ATF prices have been coming down during the last few weeks after jumping to record levels, primarily due to the Russia-Ukraine war that began on February 24.

    On August 1, the price of ATF in Delhi was Rs 1.21 lakh per kilo-litre, which was around 14 per cent lower than last month.

    The ministry had imposed lower and upper limits on domestic airfares based on flight durations when services were resumed on May 25, 2020 after a two-month lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    For example, airlines currently cannot charge a passenger less than Rs 2,900 (excluding GST) and more than Rs 8,800 (excluding GST) for domestic flights of less than 40 minutes.

    The lower caps were there to protect the financially weaker airlines and the upper caps to protect passengers from high fares.

    On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Ministry stated in an order: “After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel. It has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from August 31, 2022.”

    The airlines and airport operators must, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid-19 are strictly adhered to and Covid-appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during travel, it added.

    Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan had on June 19 said that he would be happy if the lower and upper limits on airfares were increased but the best solution would be for the airlines to have absolute freedom on airfares.

    NEW DELHI: Limits imposed on domestic airfares will be removed from August 31, after a span of approximately 27 months, the Union Aviation Ministry said on Wednesday.

    “The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel (ATF). Stabilisation has set in and we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future,” Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Twitter.

    ATF prices have been coming down during the last few weeks after jumping to record levels, primarily due to the Russia-Ukraine war that began on February 24.

    On August 1, the price of ATF in Delhi was Rs 1.21 lakh per kilo-litre, which was around 14 per cent lower than last month.

    The ministry had imposed lower and upper limits on domestic airfares based on flight durations when services were resumed on May 25, 2020 after a two-month lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    For example, airlines currently cannot charge a passenger less than Rs 2,900 (excluding GST) and more than Rs 8,800 (excluding GST) for domestic flights of less than 40 minutes.

    The lower caps were there to protect the financially weaker airlines and the upper caps to protect passengers from high fares.

    On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Ministry stated in an order: “After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel. It has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from August 31, 2022.”

    The airlines and airport operators must, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid-19 are strictly adhered to and Covid-appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during travel, it added.

    Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan had on June 19 said that he would be happy if the lower and upper limits on airfares were increased but the best solution would be for the airlines to have absolute freedom on airfares.

  • 78.22 lakh domestic air passengers in March, slightly lower than February: DGCA

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Around 78.22 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in March, which is slightly lower than 78.27 lakh who travelled in February, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday.

    According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 77.34 lakh people travelled by air within the country in January. While IndiGo carried 41.85 lakh passengers in March, a 54 per cent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 10.03 lakh passengers, which is 12.8 per cent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

    It showed that Air India, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India carried 9.17 lakh, 6.12 lakh, 5 lakh and 5.42 lakh passengers respectively in March. The occupancy rate or load factor of the six major Indian airlines was between 64.5 per cent and 76.5 per cent in March, it stated.

    “The passenger load factor in the month of March 2021 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to beginning of tourist season,” the DGCA said. The regulator noted that the occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 76.5 per cent in March.

    According to the DGCA the occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir, Air India and AirAsia India were 66.4 per cent, 64.5 per cent, 71.5 per cent, 70.6 per cent and 65.1 per cent respectively. India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 last year after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 per cent of their pre-pandemic domestic flights. The DGCA data mentioned that in March, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 97.8 per cent at four metro airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

    The regulator said that GoAir and SpiceJet were at number two and three positions at these four airports in March with 95.8 per cent and 92.2 per cent on-time performance respectively. The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

    All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leaves without pay and layoffs in order to tide over the crisis.