Domestic airfares fall as capacity rises

New Delhi: While passengers may complain about sky-rocketing domestic airfares in the winter holiday season, the numbers suggest otherwise.
An analysis done by the airline watchdog the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that there has been a dip in domestic fares this year compared with the same period last year. The DGCA set up a Tariff Analysis unit after fares began to surge in 2009 following the pilot strike in Jet Airways and Air India.
The study has been done on 160 flights operating in 65 sectors. These sectors include metro (such as Delhi-Mumbai), secondary (such as Chennai-Kochi) and newly launched routes (such as Delhi-Shimla). Fares in all categories (advance as well as spot) were monitored at regular intervals and even on a daily basis for six days prior to departure for a given date.
A person familiar with the development gave the example of the Delhi-Shimla sector. Last year, when Kingfisher Airlines introduced flights on the sector, airfares were in excess of Rs 30,000. Now, with other operators also introducing flights, the fare has dipped to about Rs 17,000.
Similarly, fares on the Delhi-Port Blair sector have dropped to below Rs 5,000 at present from over Rs 15,000 last year as more airlines have started operating flights.
25/12/11 Shishir Sinha/Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2011