Fares for India-Dubai flights increase heavily for August-September 2012
By TBM Staff | MumbaiWith Air India continuing to operate a curtailed flight schedule, airfares on routes between India and the Middle East, especially those between Kerala and the UAE, for travel in the peak festive season of August have touched stratospheric heights. Airfares on the Dubai-Mumbai route, too, have gone up by at least 60 per cent. However, it’s the fare on offer on the Dubai-Kochi sector that is breaking records and raising eyebrows. The cheapest return fare on some dates is as high as Rs 79,000. One can book a return air ticket from India to the US for a lower amount.
“Air India has cut its capacity and other international carriers haven’t added flights,’’ said Ankur Bhatia, Director, Bird Group. “The growth in the international sector from India is 10-15 per cent. The Middle East accounts for 40% of this growth and so the fares are high,’’ he added, as per a Times of India report by Manju V.
Return air fares between Dubai and Kochi for August 2012 have broken all records, with the cheapest tickets available for almost Rs 80,000. Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India, said, “The unbelievably high airfares show that the country needs a regulatory authority. Developing countries like India and China need such regulators as one cannot leave everything to market forces.’’
To begin with, tickets on carriers like Emirates, Jet Airways and Air India Express for flights scheduled in August with a return journey in September 2012 on the Dubai-Kochi direct route are mostly sold out. Conventionally, airfares go up around the time of Onam and Ramzan, with return fares between Kochi and Dubai hovering around Rs 35,000 in the last few years. This year, Ramzan (around August 21) and Onam (August 29) fall less than two weeks apart.
Air India has not restored its flight schedule, although its pilots called off their strike on July 6, 2012 “Air India Express used to operate about 175 flights a week and under the curtailed schedule it is operating 97 flights a week,’’ said an Air India Express official. Said an Air India official, “For Air India and Air India Express combined, the decrease in number of seats on the India-Middle East sector would be close to 50 per cent.’’ With Air India not operating as many flights, there is a shortfall of seats on these routes and consequently, the fare jump has been stupendous.
The website of Emirates shows “no availability’’ on Dubai-Kochi return flights scheduled for travel from Dubai between August 3, 2012 and September 2, 2012 with the return journey in September 2012.
However, the airline has business class seats for one-way travel from Dubai to Kochi around these dates with the fares beginning at around Rs 47,000. Return tickets on flights operated till August 2, 2012 are available in the range of Rs 41,000.
Air India Express has a few seats in the first week of August for travel from Dubai to Kochi and for return in September 2012 with fares starting at Rs 30,500. Similarly, Jet Airways website does not have tickets on direct flights, but Dubai to Kochi can be travelled with a transit stop in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, etc, and the return fares are in the range of Rs 48,000. For Dubai-Kochi, makemytrip.com, a travel portal, has return tickets for travel on August 16, 17 and 18 and return in September, but the cheapest fare on offer for these dates is Rs 79,086.
Experts give thumbs down to Air Kerala Express, Gulf ship service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The assembly session that was adjourned sine die on Wednesday saw the government proposing two ambitious plans to alleviate the travel troubles of the 2.5 million non-resident Keralites working in the Gulf region.
The proposals aren't new, but were revived after there was a huge hike in airfares in this sector during peak season. Chief minister Oommen Chandy said on Monday that Kerala would once again approach the Centre for approval to establish Air Kerala Express airline for the benefit of people working in the Gulf.
Experts and senior civil aviation ministry officials, however, consider the move immature and unfeasible. "To get approval to start an airline, the government should get a schedule operator's permit from the civil aviation ministry. But the government policy says that permission for flying on international routes will be given only after an existing airline completes five years of operations," a senior official in the ministry said. The issue of bilateral seat-sharing agreement between two countries, in this case between Gulf countries and India, will also be a roadblock. "Already Air India and private airlines have taken up the seats under this agreement, and it has to be seen whether the UAE government will concede more seats for a new airline, especially since this is one of the few profit-making international air routes for private airlines,'' the official said.
Aviation experts said it would not be advisable to start an airline at this juncture as most airlines in the country were struggling to make profits. Travel Federation of India president Ajay Prakash said unless the civil aviation ministry lifted the five-year cap on domestic airline companies registered in India, Kerala's dream could not be realized. "Or else, the Kerala government should register the company somewhere in the UAE," he said.
Ships to Gulf
The second proposal, mooted by state rural development minister K C Joseph, who is also the vice-chairman of non resident Keralites affair department (NORKA), to start a ship service between Kerala and Dubai was given the thumbs down by maritime experts. The minister had said in the assembly that with airfares being increased haphazardly many non-resident Keralites were finding it difficult to visit their families during holiday seasons. However, maritime experts and people in the travel industry said the proposal was not feasible because of high costs and longer duration of the journey. "There will not be any takers for this proposal on account of the high port charges and longer duration of travel. Moreover, there will be hardly any passengers during the non-peak season, and the ocean liners will have to remain anchored," E M Najeeb, president, Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry said.
Maritime experts said on an average a Kochi-UAE sea travel would take three-four days. "The concept will be viable only if embassies of both the countries formulate proper emigration procedures at the respective port offices. Seaports will have to act as customs and emigration points like airports. A proper feasibility study will have to be done before undertaking such an initiative. But the issue again is will a person who has travelled in the comfort of a plane, travel in a bunker class ship, that too for so many days. He may just prefer to extend his leave and travel when airfares come down,'' said Captain George Thomas.
Thiruvananthapuram: The assembly session that was adjourned sine die on Wednesday saw the government proposing two ambitious plans to alleviate the travel troubles of the 2.5 million non-resident Keralites working in the Gulf region.
The proposals aren't new, but were revived after there was a huge hike in airfares in this sector during peak season.
Chief minister Oommen Chandy said on Monday that Kerala would once again approach the Centre for approval to establish Air Kerala Express airline for the benefit of people working in the Gulf.
Experts and senior civil aviation ministry officials, however, consider the move immature and unfeasible.
"To get approval to start an airline, the government should get a schedule operators permit from the civil aviation ministry. But the government policy says that permission for flying on international routes will be given only after an existing airline completes five years of operations," a senior official in the ministry said.
The issue of bilateral seat-sharing agreement between two countries, in this case between Gulf countries and India, will also be a roadblock. "Already Air India and private airlines have taken up the seats under this agreement, and it has to be seen whether the UAE government will concede more seats for a new airline, especially since this is one of the few profit-making international air routes for private airlines,'' the official said.
Aviation experts said it would not be advisable to start an airline at this juncture as most airlines in the country were struggling to make profits.
Travel Federation of India president Ajay Prakash said unless the civil aviation ministry lifted the five-year cap on domestic airline companies registered in India, Kerala's dream could not be realized. "Or else, the Kerala government should register the company somewhere in the UAE," he said.
Ships to Gulf
The second proposal, mooted by state rural development minister K C Joseph, who is also the vice-chairman of Non Resident Keralites Affair Department (NORKA), to start a ship service between Kerala and Dubai was given the thumbs down by maritime experts.
The minister had said in the assembly that with airfares being increased haphazardly many non-resident Keralites were finding it difficult to visit their families during holiday seasons.
However, maritime experts and people in the travel industry said the proposal was not feasible because of high costs and longer duration of the journey.
"There will not be any takers for this proposal on account of the high port charges and longer duration of travel. Moreover, there will be hardly any passengers during the non-peak season, and the ocean liners will have to remain anchored," E M Najeeb, president, Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry said.
Maritime experts said on an average a Kochi-UAE sea travel would take three-four days. "The concept will be viable only if embassies of both the countries formulate proper emigration procedures at the respective port offices. Seaports will have to act as customs and emigration points like airports. A proper feasibility study will have to be done before undertaking such an initiative. But the issue again is will a person who has travelled in the comfort of a plane, travel in a bunker class ship, that too for many days. He may just prefer to extend his leave and travel when airfares come down,'' said Captain George Thomas.
Air India to operate more flights to deal with Gulf summer rush
DUBAI // Air India says it will operate additional flights out of the UAE to help ease the summer rush
The number of Air India flights to and from the UAE dropped from 48 to 28 a week because of the 58-day pilot’s strike.
Although the strike was called off on July 3, it will be some time before pilots resume their duties as they must undergo medical checks and complete other technical formalities before they are allowed to fly.
As a result, flights were cancelled and hundreds of passengers flying from the UAE were inconvenienced.
Now, Air India’s regional manager for the Gulf, Middle East and Africa, Abhay Pathak, says the airline is planning to introduce special flights. “We will come to know in a day or two about the schedule of the flights,” he said.
Fares from Dubai to various destinations in India have risen sharply as a result of the flight shortage. A one-way ticket to Hyderabad in August as advertised on the Emirates Airline website will cost passengers up to Dh2,420. A ticket to Calicut in Kerala on the same day costs Dh1,600 to Dh1,770.
“It is unprecedented. A return fare to Hyderabad used to be around Dh1,700, but now a one-way fare is more than Dh2,000. It is really high,” said a passenger, who did not wish to be identified.
Raja Reddy, owner of Marshal Travel and Tours in Dubai, said the high fares were a result of a combination of factors, including holiday season, Air India Express problems and the stoppage of Kingfisher Airlines.
“It is good for the airlines, as it is a peak season and the fares are very high. Passengers have to shell out more money to buy tickets,” he said. “Because it is holiday season, people are ready to travel whether it is a low fare or a high fare.”
He said things would go back to normal once Air India started operating extra flights. “We are expecting things to become normal by mid-August as Air India crew are already undergoing medical tests and are prepared to fly. It will be a big relief for passengers,” he said.
The Air India pilot’s strike ended after the airline’s management assured Delhi High Court they would sympathetically consider their grievances, including reinstating those who had been fired for striking.
The strike reportedly cost Air India more than Dh394 million.
AAI staff lobby to stop airport privatisation
CHENNAI: The standoff is worsening between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Planning Commission over the privatisation of the Chennai and Kolkata airports. Fear of retrenchment and loss of revenue has fuelled AAI's hostility to the proposal.
Though the plan panel has briefed the Tamil Nadu government on the plan to divest Chennai airport and sent the proposal to the ministry of civil aviation seeking an immediate response, the ministry has not yet agreed to play along, a senior deputy director at AAI's headquarters in Delhi said.
After meetings over the past week during which senior AAI officials expressed concern over the privatisation plan, more than 100 employees of the authority including senior staff staged a protest at the Chennai airport on Wednesday. "We have decided to meet chief minister J Jayalalithaa with a petition demanding that the state government take a stand against the privatisation plan," said L George, regional secretary (metro) of Airports Authority Employees' Union. "There is no logic in selling the airports to private players after spending thousands of crores of rupees to upgrade them," said an AAI official.
The authority, a public sector entity that operates a majority of the airports in the country, has spent 2,015 crore on the modernisation of the Chennai airport and 2,350 crore to upgrade the Kolkata airport. The package deal proposed by the Planning Commission for the Chennai airport includes its two new terminals and 900 acres of land along GST Road. The privatisation of Chennai and Kolkata airports will result in a huge dent in AAI's finances as the other 125 small airports in the country under AAI generate little revenue.
Another AAI official in Delhi headquarters said the ministry of civil aviation is likely to announce a final decision on the privatisation of the Chennai and Kolkata airports before August 15. "If the Planning Commission has its way, the ministry will be handing over modernised airports and real estate worth crores of rupees on a platter to a private company or consortium," he said. If the aviation ministry accepts the Planning Commission proposal, AAI plans to suggest a joint venture partnership with an international airport operator from Singapore, Austria or Korea to avoid complete divestment and avoid privatisation of land rights.
Air Passengers Association of India president D Sudhakara Reddy said the plan would benefit from enhanced efficiency of service if the airports are privatised. "They should not be made to pay high charges like user fee and others," he said.
IndiGo grows big, asks for concession, takes on govt
IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd, controls almost 26 per cent of the domestic air passenger market and is moving closer to the country’s largest airline Jet Airways (India) Ltd, which has a 27.4 per cent share.
IndiGo’s brush with the government is not something new. The airline had issues when the government reduced the frequency of its Mubai-Muscat service from seven days to four days a week.
“For healthy competition to happen, there has to be a level-playing field among all operators, and basically that means the policies and the support should be the same for all airlines,’’ Ghosh had told Business Standard on the sidelines of India Aviation show in Hyderabad a few months ago.
He had also suggested efficient operators could be rewarded with discounts on fuel, lower airport charges and low-cost airports. “Whoever is performing better, please reward them with these things because then there is an incentive in industry to fix its own house,” he had added.
IndiGo’s promoter Rahul Bhatia recently said in Kolkata the government “must take decisions that are for the good of the industry and not for the good a select few”. According to analysts, he was, perhaps, hinting at the crisis-hit Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and the state-owned Air India Ltd.
Kingfisher has reduced its number of services recently and hasn’t paid salaries for employees for months due to cash crunch, while Air India is being financially backed by the government.
Bhatia’s views have been endorsed by others, too. Tony Tyler, director general and chief executive officer of the global aviation trade body, International Airport Transport Association (Iata) told reporters here on Wednesday: “I don’t think giving one airline a protected golden route is the way forward. The international obligation would not allow it any ways. In principle, it’s a mistake and I think that’s just another form of subsidy.”
IndiGo, the largest low-cost carrier in India, is pushing the government to offer incentives such as discounts on fuel and lower airport charges to the airlines that perform well.
The airline’s recent criticism that the civil aviation ministry is “tweaking with policies for a select few” is actually a pressure tactic aimed at pushing the government to help better performing carriers, according to analysts. The airline’s president Aditya Ghosh had said a few months earlier that he wanted the government to turn its focus to better performing airline companies.
The government has strongly refuted the allegations made by Bhatia. It said on Wednesday the government, being owner of the Air India, was well within its rights to promote the national carrier and prepare it for competition.
The ministry of civil aviation also clarified the private operators were not being provided any financial support directly or indirectly but had been allowed to perform as per market forces. It said an airline’s licence could be cancelled anywhere in the world for “merely failing to pay salaries to the staff.” Kingfisher is yet to pay salary for February to all its employees and no one has been paid March-June salaries.
Many say even IndiGo has benefited from the government’s approach towards airlines. Captain Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant said, “It’s not that the government is targeting IndiGo. The government has been lenient with all the airlines. Had the government been strictly adhering to the rules, they could have taken action against all airlines and even IndiGo on safety violations.”
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