Rail fare cut may hit airlines

New Delhi: With the railway minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, announcing two per cent cut in passenger fares for all classes including air-conditioned (AC), the number of passengers travelling by air could be further hit.
As all domestic airlines, including low-cost ones, had recently hiked their fares and they remain “too expensive” for close to one year now, the cut in railway fares has further widened the cost difference between the two modes of transportation.
Leave aside full service carriers like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, even low-cost carrier (LCCs) fares are now at least double the AC-II train fares. While Rajdhani’s AC-II fare for a journey between Delhi and Mumbai costs about Rs 1800, the minimum LCCs fares for the same start at Rs 4800. This is the case on most routes and LCCs fares remain double the fares for AC II class.
This is despite the fact that when LCCs carriers like Air Deccan started their services in the country in 2003, they had expected to lure AC class train passengers to air travel as fares for the two were almost the same.
14/02/09 The Statesman

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2009