Taking a serious note of high air fares, especially during the festive season, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture in its report ‘Status of Aviation Connectivity in the country’, has asked to fix an upper limit of air fares for every sector especially in the economy class.
The Committee also expressed concern that there is no uniformity in the cancellation charges levied by the airlines. The Committee also recommended that five Star/three Star hotels and multiplexes should be constructed near the new airports and asked the Ministry should consider mandatorily earmarking minimum 100 acres of land, while making plans for future airports.
The Committee chairman TG Venkatesh, presented its report in the Parliament on Friday. On the exorbitant air fares, the Committee expressed hope that the Ministry should consider fixing an upper limit for every sector, especially in the economy class of air fares. The Committee also noted that even after reduction of the Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices over a period of time, the airlines have not passed on the benefit of reduction in ATF prices to the consumers. The Committee recommended that the Ministry should take effective steps to ensure that the airlines pass on the benefit to the travelers by reducing the air fares and inform the Committee about the specific steps taken in this regard and the outcome thereof.
The Committee emphasized the need for rationalizing the cancellation charges and prescribing an upper limit of cancellation charges that can be collected from the passengers.
The Committee has reiterated its recommendation in this regard, made in its 276th and 291st Reports, requiring the airlines to restrict not more than 50% of the base fare as cancellation charges. The tax and fuel surcharge collected should be refunded to the passengers on cancellation of tickets. The Committee hopes that the Ministry would be able to persuade the airlines for such rationalization in the interest of the passengers.
The Committee also recommended that the Ministry should ensure that designated holding areas should be made available at all airports to accommodate passengers who are stranded at the airport due to cancellation or rescheduling of flights. The Committee impressed upon the Ministry to urge upon the airlines to make sure that facilities such as food, water, medical help and accommodation are available to stranded passengers.
As per the information provided by the ministry of civil aviation to the committee members, India’s domestic passenger throughput has reached around 137 million in 2019-20 from 61 million in 2013-14 and international passenger traffic has reached 67 million in 2019-20 from 47 million in 2013-14. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian civil aviation sector was growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 14 percent and was among the fastest growing civil aviation sector in the world. “Despite India being the world’s fastest growing aviation market, its airports are grappling with serious capacity constraints because such a pace of growth has resulted in a strain on the aviation infrastructure, resulting in traffic congestions and delays at a majority of the airports,” it said.