Seats on sale for no-fly day

Calcutta: If the government wants proof of how desperate private airlines are, it need look no farther than their online booking sites. They are selling tickets for the day their planes are not supposed to fly.
Jet and Kingfisher are among those continuing to offer tickets for August 18, the day they have threatened to suspend flights to press the demand to reduce fuel tax.
“The inventory for booking is open for sales. We have not been asked to close bookings for August 18,” a Jet Airways employee said.
Cracks have already emerged in the airline industry on a day the government asked the airlines to explain within 48 hours why they needed to suspend flights on August 18.
IndiGo, part of the federation that announced the suspension of flights, said tonight it would not take part in the protest and would operate normal services on August 18. “We should all engage in a dialogue with the (civil aviation) ministry,” IndiGo Airlines president Aditya Ghosh said.
Civil aviation officials said they expected more airlines, especially low-cost carriers that are not as deep in losses as Kingfisher and Jet, to follow suit. They added that SpiceJet and Paramount could announce in a day or two plans to operate flights on August 18. If that happens, the plan to ground the flights could well fizzle out.
The Federation of Indian Airlines has said its members “will be happy to enter into discussions with government and re-consider their unanimous decision to suspend operations… if their difficulties are addressed”.
01/08/09 Sanjoy Mandal & Jayanta Roy Chowdhury/The Telegraph

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2009