Mallya for use of old Hyd, B'lore airports for low-cost ops

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines' promoter Vijay Mallya on Monday favoured the use of the old airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore for low-cost operations.
If the government decided to keep the old airports at the two cities operational after the new ones became operational, "they could have been used as low-cost airports," Mallya said at the India Economic Summit here.
Replying to questions at the session on 'Travails of Travel and Tourism in India', he said the Airports Authority of India were developing and modernising about 50 airports.
"We do not need fancy terminals. We do not need all that razmatazz. What we need is a simple and safe runway and navigational aids that function. If these facilities are there, connectivity is no problem," the Kingfisher chief said.
Asserting that the "real question" was to make flying affordable, Mallya said "that's a question of taxation" and wanted the government to cut taxes on jet fuel as well as reduce various airport charges.
Regarding fuel surcharge, he accepted that the fuel surcharge component was many a time "higher than the basic airfare. And airfares are high because of high taxes.
17/11/08 PTI/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008, Kingfisher Nov 2008