Domestic Airfares Hiked Amid As Centre Raises Cap Up To 30%

Domestic flyers will have to pay more for flying with the country. Prices of airfare are all set to reach a new high as the government has hiked it by 10-30 per cent. The government has currently imposed a minimum and maximum limit on fares that airlines can charge from passengers. The Ministry has added that these new limits would remain in force up to March 31, 2021. Though the move will be beneficial to the aviation sector, that was worst affected due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. But flyers will be hit hard till March 31.

As reported by Indian Express, The government had imposed fare restrictions, via bands, when it reopened air travel in May.

Here is all you need about the bands:

• The first such band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration.
• The lower limit for the first band was increased from ₹ 2,000 to ₹ 2,200.
• The upper limit was set at ₹ 7,800, which was ₹ 6,000 earlier.
• The next band is for flights of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes.
• The fresh lower and upper limits set by the ministry for these bands on Thursday were: ₹ 2,800 – ₹ 9,800, ₹ 3,300 – ₹ 11,700, ₹ 3,900 – ₹ 13,000, ₹ 5,000 – ₹ 16,900, ₹ 6,100 – ₹ 20,400 and ₹ 7,200 – ₹ 24,200, respectively.
• Till date, the lower and upper limits for these bands were: ₹ 2,500 – ₹ 7,500, ₹ 3,000 – ₹ 9,000, ₹ 3,500 – ₹ 10,000, ₹ 4,500 – ₹ 13,000, ₹ 5,500 – ₹ 15,700 and ₹ 6,500 – ₹ 18,600, respectively.

Airline executives are quite happy with the new order. But they also want the Central Government to do away with all the restrictions now.

Also Read: Airport Authority of India issues guidelines for domestic air travel