John Brittas, MP, on Wednesday urged the Centre to urgently intervene to regulate the skyrocketing airfares which have seen a record increase of around 300% to 600% between West Asian destinations and Kerala.
Necessary rules and regulations shall also be promulgated to ensure the pricing of air tickets in a fair and reasonable manner and to fix an upper ceiling for fares on all domestic and international routes, said Mr. Brittas in a letter to Secretary General, Rajya Sabha.
The airfares have been soaring post COVID-19 period, both on international and domestic routes, in such a way as to even outpace inflation rates. The industry stakeholders are blaming the reluctance on the part of airline companies to bring all their idling aircraft back to service after the peak COVID-19 season as well as the exponential hike in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices as two critical factors behind this unprecedented escalation of airfares in India, he pointed out.
There are also allegations of oligopolistic practices on the part of airline companies behind the sky-high airfares. The precarious situation of Indian expatriates post COVID-19 scenario, especially of those from Kerala working in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, is further exacerbated by the unconscionable airfares during this vacation season, said Mr. Brittas.
The Kerala diaspora in West Asian countries is getting their fingers burned owing to the soaring airfares. Many are dropping plans of coming to India during this vacation season. Fresh job aspirants for West Asia are also suffering likewise. It is pertinent to note that the government used to intervene in the past to operate more flights during peak seasons to reduce the fares, he noted.
