New Delhi:
If you are complaining about high air fares ahead of the festive season, this should interest you. The aviation ministry is examining if air fares can be capped at Rs 2500, matching rail fares.
"We have a 300-million-strong middle class population and most desire to fly at least once in their lifetime. It is possible if we make the fare in a bracket of Rs 2500 for an hour-long flight," said Mahesh Sharma, junior minister for aviation.
But here's the catch: These cheap flights will operate only in small towns and cities.
There are as many 31 airports, mostly in small towns and cities, where airlines have either never flown or have stopped flying because of poor passenger loads.
The government plans to revive these destinations by starting low fare flights. "Our airport charges will be reduced, we will ask the states to reduce value added taxes (VAT) and other taxes on such flights. We will ask the airlines to take a fare cut," said Mr Sharma.
If approved, the policy will be implemented from April next year and here's how it will work: Airlines will be asked to bid for routes that connect small towns to cities. Fares will then be fixed between Rs 2000 and Rs 2,500.
The difference between actual cost per ticket and the fare will be paid by the government. Money for this will come from passengers on profitable routes, who will be charged a 2 per cent cess. In technical language, it is called viability gap funding.
Airlines didn't want to comment without seeing the fine print. But some aviation experts said they feel it would be tough for the policy to take off in the absence of fuel efficient small aircraft.
"By definition, regional service to me means using a 50-seater plane," said Kapil Kaul, who heads the Indian office of Australian consultancy, Centre for Asia Pacfic Aviation.
The government's plan, he said, sounds more like starting a commuter service and planes for such an experiment are not easily available.
"When you study the commuter operations from 9 to 30 seats, it mostly has outdated technologies... 70s technology or 80s technologies," he added.