Anxious tourists crowded the airport in Srinagar on Saturday.
Highlights
- Airfares of flights from Srinagar surged over the weekend
- Air India today capped fares of its Srinagar flights till August 15
- J&K administration asked tourists and pilgrims to leave the Valley
Air India today capped fares of its Srinagar flights till August 15, a day after the Ministry of Aviation told all the airlines to curb the surging air ticket prices "for pilgrims returning from Amarnath dham".
"In view of the prevailing circumstances, #AirIndia has decided to cap the fare @9500 for all #AirIndia flights to/from #Srinagar till 15th August," Air India tweeted today.
In another tweet, the airline said: "#flyAI: #update #airindia further reduces fare at Rs 6715 srinagar to del and at Rs 6899 Delhi to srinagar till 15th aug (date included)."
The airfares for flights from Srinagar surged over the weekend after the Jammu and Kashmir administration issued an advisory asking tourists and Amarnath Yatra pilgrims to leave the Kashmir Valley "immediately" amid intelligence about terror threats.
Following the advisory, anxious tourists crowded the airport in Srinagar on Saturday, many without tickets for flights.
For a one-way direct flight from Srinagar to Delhi, even low-cost airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia charged between Rs 10,000 to Rs 22,000, according to travel portals, as against around Rs 3,000.
Amid the rush, the Ministry of Civil Aviation intervened on Saturday and asked airlines to rein in the surging airfares. "Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation Shri @HardeepSPuri has asked all the Airlines to rein in the surging Air Fares for pilgrims returning from Amarnath dham," read a tweet on the Ministry of Civil Aviation's official account.
After Air India announced capping of fares, former chief minister Omar Abdullah today tweeted: "Thank you very much @HardeepSPuri @airindiain @PMOIndia. Now if we could only find a way to get other airlines to follow Air India."
(With inputs from ANI)