Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Airlines continuously eating into railways share of passenger traffic

The Indian government recently announced its decision to cap regional airfares at Rs. 2,500, and this is likely to eat away the passenger traffic of the Indian railways. Once the new rule comes into force, there would be very little price difference between premium rail fares and the fares that airlines charge for the same distance.

This could result in more number of passengers opting to fly instead of rail travel thereby saving time, the Financial Express reported. The central government is yet to announce a detailed regional connectivity scheme and the names of the airports, which would fall under the scheme.
The broad outline of the policy suggests that state government's, which are ready to give less than one percent VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices and airport charges, would be able to get airlines to begin operations in their cities.

For example: If the Jaisalmer airport in Rajasthan gets connected to Jaipur, then, a passenger who travels on a 12-hour AC first class journey between the two cities pays Rs. 2,300. With the option of regional connectivity, the passenger would only have to shell out an additional Rs. 200 to for a 75-minute flight instead.
28/06/16 Kalyani Pandey/IBTimes
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