Congestion surcharge to dip, but fuel cost to nullify benefit

New Delhi: With a marked decline in the average time they spent hovering in the skies, private sector airlines are planning to reduce the congestion surcharge by Rs 50 to Rs 100. But there’s little cheer for passengers since fuel prices have seen a continuous increase over the previous quarter. As a result fuel surcharge is likely to go up again by Rs 100, nullifying the correction in congestion at the airports.
According to a highly placed industry source, in the last meeting of the airlines with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on March 9, Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, Air Sahara (now acquired by Jet), Spicejet and Indigo, agreed that there has been considerable decrease in the hovering time over Delhi and Mumbai airports from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.
At the same time, the airlines are contemplating an increase in the fuel surcharge if prices again register an increase in April end, industry sources said. In January, March and April this year fuel prices have seen an average increase of 5%, 2% and 5% respectively across the metros. However the aviation turbine fuel price registered an average decline of 9%. Jet fuel prices currently average Rs 38,678 per kilolitre.
18/04/07 Atreyee Dev Roy/Financial Express

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Categories: Airports Apr 2007, General Aviation Apr 2007