It is the unkindest cut for the Chennaiites. At a time when the common people are scrambling to escape the devastation caused by the floods, the airfares from Bengaluru, the nearest air head, is soaring. A look at various ticket booking sites show that they have risen as much as Rs 50,000 and more to select destinations. And leading from the forefront to fleece the unlucky travellers is none other than the state-owned carrier Air India.
If you want to fly out from Bengaluru to Kolkata, you would do well to rethink your plans. A fare check on cleartrip.com at 3 pm showed that one way cheapest fare for travel today from Bangalore to Kolkata was Rs 51,514. That's not the only such incident. It would take an unbelievable 25 hours and five minutes to reach the destination. Ironically, this 'cheap' fare is offered by Air India mocks a warning by the civil aviation ministry on Friday asking airlines not to fleece passengers at this hour of crisis.
"The civil aviation ministry, which had warned airlines that it would intervene if the carriers didn't stop taking advantage of the situation, said the flights would operate daily from the naval airbase in Chennai over the next two days to rescue stranded passengers," a report in The Economic Times said. "We have requested the airlines not to take advantage of the situation and overcharge fliers. If this continues, we will have to fix fares like we did in the case of Nepal," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had told the business daily.
Another sector that is costing a bomb is the Bengaluru-New Delhi sector, if anyone decides to travel on Saturday. At 3.15 pm, the cheapest air connectivity between these two cities was being offered by SpiceJet at Rs 21,710 for one-way fare. Vistara is charging Rs 26,741 for the same route which is the second cheapest fare, of course, offering the luxury of a full carrier.
05/12/15 F.Business
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If you want to fly out from Bengaluru to Kolkata, you would do well to rethink your plans. A fare check on cleartrip.com at 3 pm showed that one way cheapest fare for travel today from Bangalore to Kolkata was Rs 51,514. That's not the only such incident. It would take an unbelievable 25 hours and five minutes to reach the destination. Ironically, this 'cheap' fare is offered by Air India mocks a warning by the civil aviation ministry on Friday asking airlines not to fleece passengers at this hour of crisis.
"The civil aviation ministry, which had warned airlines that it would intervene if the carriers didn't stop taking advantage of the situation, said the flights would operate daily from the naval airbase in Chennai over the next two days to rescue stranded passengers," a report in The Economic Times said. "We have requested the airlines not to take advantage of the situation and overcharge fliers. If this continues, we will have to fix fares like we did in the case of Nepal," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had told the business daily.
Another sector that is costing a bomb is the Bengaluru-New Delhi sector, if anyone decides to travel on Saturday. At 3.15 pm, the cheapest air connectivity between these two cities was being offered by SpiceJet at Rs 21,710 for one-way fare. Vistara is charging Rs 26,741 for the same route which is the second cheapest fare, of course, offering the luxury of a full carrier.
05/12/15 F.Business
