Punjab fallout: Train halt flips airfare

Srinagar: The halt of railway services in Jammu due to law and order situation in Punjab has skyrocketed airfares of Delhi and Mumbai bound flights from Srinagar.
The airfares have skyrocketed fourfold due to increasing rush of tourists and sudden eruption of violence in Punjab leaving around 40,000 passengers stranded in Jammu as and Srinagar.
“Last month the air-ticket for Srinagar-Delhi was available between Rs 2500-3500. Now it has gone up fourfold. Spice Jet offers the cheapest air ticket for Delhi at the costs of Rs 9000. Other flights charge between Rs 12000 and 15000,” Chief Accountant of Shiraz Travels Showkat Hussain Khan told Rising Kashmir. Citing reasons for the increase in airfare, Khan said that in view of the increasing rush of domestic tourists after parliamentary elections, the airline services shoot up the fares.
“Almost all the flights are booked. Jet Lite and Kingfisher have closed their flights,” Khan said.
However, Khan said that with the escalation of airfares the business for the travel agents of valley had been severely hit.
“It is not going to help us as our sales get affected. People prefer travelling by road rather than spending huge sum of money for 1.15 hour air journey,” he said. “The hike in airfare proved beneficial for airline services only.”
Khan said: “Sale has decreased by more than 50 per cent. Last month on an average we used to sell 100 tickets a week. Now we barely manage to sell 20 to 30 tickets a week,” Khan added.
Meanwhile, Vice President of Jet Lite Ragni Sharma told Rising Kashmir over the phone that for the maintenance and other essential requirements, the authorities had increased the travel charges in Srinagar bound flights.
26/05/09 Mehboob Jeelani/RisingKashmir

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2009