After Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri advice to cap on airfare to and from Srinagar, the national carrier Air India on Sunday announced reduction of fares for flights in and out of Srinagar, with Srinagar-Delhi tickets priced at Rs 6,715 and Delhi-Srinagar at Rs 6,899 till August 15.
The fare drop came barely an hour after the Air India said it is capping ticket prices to and from Srinagar at Rs 9,500 till Independence Day in view of the prevailing situation in Jammu & Kashmir. Puri has asked all the Airlines to rein in the surging Air Fares for pilgrims returning from Amarnath dham.
According to information given by Air India, if a passenger cancels his flight from Srinagar before August 15 or changes the date of his journey, he/she will be given a full refund for his ticket and no charge will be imposed in case of a change made in travel dates.
Despite the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directives not to increase airfare to/from Srinagar, airfares have surged very steeply after the State Government asked Amarnath Yatra pilgrims and other tourists to cut short their stay and return amid threats of terror attack in the region.
Domestic airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia have hiked their fares between the Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 range. The usual rates on Srinagar-Delhi route are Rs 3,000-3500. Moreover, flights from Srinagar to Jammu have also spiked up to Rs 16,000.
Also, as per the web portals of all domestic airlines of the Srinagar route, most of the tickets have been sold out.
The Kashmir Government had on Friday issued an advisory asking Yatris and tourists to return home as soon as possible. “Unnecessary panic is being created by linking this to all kinds of other issues. A pure security measure is being mixed up with issues with which it has no connection. That is the cause of the panic,” a notice from the Home Secretary and the Divisional Commissioner had said.
On Friday, the DGCA asked airlines to operate extra flights to and from Srinagar to fly out Amarnath pilgrims from the valley. Airlines such as Air India, IndiGo and Vistara announced that given the turmoil, they were temporarily waiving off cancellation and rescheduling charges for flights to and from Jammu & Kashmir. Vistara, GoAir and IndiGo have waived off cancellation and rescheduling charge fee for flights to or from Jammu & Kashmir till August 9.Air India also took to Twitter announcing that it will give a full fee waiver on rescheduling or cancellation for all flights to or from Srinagar till August 15.