Travellers may prefer trains for short journeys

New Delhi: The 12-14% hike in aviation turbine fuel is is likely to increase the fixed cost on each air ticket in the range of Rs Rs 2,175-2,375.
Since raising prices of petrol and diesel is considered politically explosive, oil PSUs have been regularly increasing ATF prices for almost a year now and loss-making airlines, in turn, have been passing on the burden to the flyers through fuel surcharge. After the latest increase, a kilolitre of ATF costs Rs 55,191.58 in Mumbai — up from last month's Rs 48,655.23.
Now, the situation has reached a point where airlines feel that a uniformly high fuel surcharge may see passengers preferring rail or bus in short journeys — say, from Delhi to Jammu, Lucknow or Jaipur; or from Mumbai to Pune, Nagpur or Goa. So the increase in such sectors is minimum.
The carriers — which are feared to have closed the last financial year with accumulated losses of more than $700 million — and aviation minister Praful Patel have been repeatedly asking the Union and state governments to lower sales tax and other duties on ATF. But their pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears and now the aviation boom could slow down with travellers opting for rail and bus journeys in view of rising air fares.
02/04/08 Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2008