Airlines, minister set on collision course

Bangalore: A day before their meeting with civil aviation minister Praful Patel, airlines were in a confrontationist mood as they meticulously prepared their agenda for discussion.
For one, they were not ready to let go of the congestion surcharge, which was introduced into airfares few months back to offset part of their losses due to delayed landings at airports.
“There is no way we can remove this charge. It can happen only if the congestion at airports is reduced,” said a senior executive of a low-cost airline.
According to an industry insider, the minister was under tremendous political pressure to reign in air fares and that is why he has agreed to meet the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) to negotiate issues pertaining to congestion surcharge and hike in peak hour airport charges, which the government is contemplating to impose from this month-end.
“We will not allow the government to arm-twist us into shifting our flights to non-peak hours. Whatever extra cost that we will bear due to increased airport charges will be passed on to the consumers,” said an airline official.
12/03/07 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Mar 2007, General Aviation Mar 2007