Budget carrier bleeds, holidaymaker hurt

Calcutta: Air Asia, the first foreign low-cost carrier to operate from the city, has decided to withdraw its thrice-a-week flight to Kuala Lumpur on March 26 despite demand being high on that sector.
The reasons cited by the airline, which also has a daily flight to Bangkok, are low earnings per seat and correspondingly high airport charges. “The airline feels it will benefit more from deploying the aircraft for domestic operations in Malaysia,” a source said.
Operational costs on the Calcutta-Kuala Lumpur route apparently broke the viability barrier after the latest hike in the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF). “Combined with airport charges, the fuel price graph has made it impossible for a budget carrier like Air Asia to continue offering low fares,” the source said.
For the budget Calcutta traveller, Air Asia’s withdrawal from the Kuala Lumpur sector means a foreign holiday is now almost out of reach. Bangkok is the only option left, where one-way fares are in the range of Rs 3,490 to Rs 6,169 for the next couple of months.
Sources blamed the higher cost of ATF in this part of the country on the rate of sales tax imposed by the Bengal government.
17/02/11 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Categories: Low Cost General Feb 2011