Decongestion plans likely to push up peak hour airfares

New Delhi: The government’s move to decongest air traffic in Mumbai and Delhi airports by putting a freeze on allowing new flights in the summer schedule may push up airfares in the peak hours, especially during May and June. While rationalisation of capacity may lead to improvement in yield per seat, carriers are looking at flying larger aircraft to metros to overcome the crunch in availability of slots for take-offs and landings.
This is likely to impact ATR operations of Air Deccan, Jet and Kingfisher, especially for flights connecting Delhi and Mumbai to smaller metros. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week limited the number of flight movements this summer to the winter schedule levels of 30 an hour to decongest air traffic at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
With the government planning to incentivise airlines to fly in the non-peak period, differential fares in the busy and non-peak hours are likely to become a reality in the Summer of ’07.
23/03/07 Sudipto Dey/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Mar 2007, General Aviation Mar 2007