Air Deccan withdraws congestion surcharge

New Delhi: Air Deccan has decided to withdraw the controversial congestion surcharge of Rs 150, which is levied on each ticket from Wednesday. But this won't have any impact on ticket prices as this amount would flow back to basic fares. While other private airlines are yet to make their stand public, sources point out they would also go the Deccan way.
"The idea of putting Rs 150 as surcharge was to draw the government's attention to the problem of congestion in places like Delhi and Mumbai. Each minute's hovering costs Rs 2,000 as fuel burn in a small plane like A-320. That's why we had earlier moved Rs 150 from basic fare and listed it under the separate head of congestion surcharge. Now we will remove this term and fares won't drop because of this move," said Captain G R Gopinath, Air Deccan's MD.
He added that fares would be decided by competition alone.
This issue had become a hot potato for the aviation ministry after the Delhi High Court recently issued a notice to it, asking why common passengers should be made to pay for choked skies.
27/03/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Air Deccan Mar 2007, Airports Mar 2007, General Aviation Mar 2007