Chennai: Air passengers have plenty of reasons to cheer with the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approving the country’s first National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016. In a first, one-hour regional flights will be capped at Rs 2,500 per passenger.
Two, overseas flying is bound to get competitive, as the decade-old 5/20 norm ‘has been thrown to the dustbin’, allowing new entrants like Vistara and Air Asia to fly abroad. Three, with sector regulator DGCA tightening guidelines, passengers may get higher compensation on delayed or denied boarding, or cancellations and lower tariffs on extra baggage.
On the downside, airfares may rise marginally, with the policy imposing a 2 per cent cess on all domestic and international tickets to improve regional connectivity.
Ashok Gajapathi Raju, minister for Civil Aviation, tweeted the policy will be a game-changer, while Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “A questionable legacy (5/20 norm) has been thrown into the dustbin.”
By capping regional fares, the government wants more Indians to fly. If everyone in the middle-class income bracket take a flight just once in a year, it translates to 300 million tickets, an exponential jump from 70 million sold in FY15.
16/06/26 New Indian Express
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Two, overseas flying is bound to get competitive, as the decade-old 5/20 norm ‘has been thrown to the dustbin’, allowing new entrants like Vistara and Air Asia to fly abroad. Three, with sector regulator DGCA tightening guidelines, passengers may get higher compensation on delayed or denied boarding, or cancellations and lower tariffs on extra baggage.
On the downside, airfares may rise marginally, with the policy imposing a 2 per cent cess on all domestic and international tickets to improve regional connectivity.
Ashok Gajapathi Raju, minister for Civil Aviation, tweeted the policy will be a game-changer, while Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “A questionable legacy (5/20 norm) has been thrown into the dustbin.”
By capping regional fares, the government wants more Indians to fly. If everyone in the middle-class income bracket take a flight just once in a year, it translates to 300 million tickets, an exponential jump from 70 million sold in FY15.
16/06/26 New Indian Express
