- Saturday, April 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
DOMESTIC air travel in India is set to become dearer as the country’s civil aviation ministry has increased the lower and upper cap on fares by 9.83 to 12.82 per cent, an official order said.
India had imposed lower and upper limits on airfares based on duration of flights when services resumed on May 25 last year, following a two-month lockdown due to coronavirus.
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The lower caps were imposed to help the carriers that have been struggling financially because of the coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
The upper caps were imposed so that the passengers are not charged huge amounts when the demand for seats soars.
In an order on Thursday (12), the ministry raised the lower limits for flights lasting less than 40 minutes from Rs 2,600 ($35) to Rs 2,900 ($39) – a hike of 11.53 per cent. The upper cap for flights of the same duration was increased by 12.82 per cent to Rs 8,800 ($119).
Similarly, flights with duration between 40-60 minutes have a lower limit of Rs 3,700 ($50) instead of Rs 3,300 ($44) as it is now, the order said.
The upper cap on such flights was increased by 12.24 per cent to Rs 11,000 ($148).
Flights with duration between 60-90 minutes have a lower limit of Rs 4,500 ($61) – a rise of 12.5 per cent. The upper cap on these flights was raised by 12.82 per cent to Rs 13,200.
Also under the ministry’s order, domestic flights of duration between 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes have lower caps of Rs 5,300 ($71), Rs 6,700 ($90), Rs 8,300 ($112) and Rs 9,800 ($132), respectively.
Till now, domestic flights of duration between 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes had the lower limits of Rs 4,700 ($63), Rs 6,100 ($82), Rs 7,400 ($100) and Rs 8,700 ($117), respectively.
The lower cap on flights between 120-150 minutes duration was raised by 9.83 percent to Rs 6,700 ($90).
On Thursday, the upper caps on domestic flights of duration between 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes were hiked by 12.3 percent, 12.42 percent, 12.74 percent and 12.39 percent, respectively.
The caps mentioned by the government in its order exclude the passenger security fee, user development fee for the airports and the goods and services tax and they are added on top when a passenger makes a booking.
The civil aviation ministry’s order said that the government has taken this decision of increasing the lower limits as well as the upper limits keeping in mind the “prevailing situation of Covid-19” in India.
