Air Travel Goes Beyond Middle-Class Reach as CTI Flags Fare Surge, Demands Cap

The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) on Saturday wrote to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, seeking his intervention to regulate soaring airfares and curb what it described as arbitrary pricing by airlines.

The sudden surge in airfares over the past 15 days has adversely affected the travel industry as well as middle-class families, particularly during the festive and wedding seasons. Travel industry stakeholders have expressed concern over a decline in business despite this being the peak travel season.

The CTI has urged the government to introduce an upper cap on airfares, alleging that airlines have raised ticket prices by nearly 50 per cent, making air travel increasingly unaffordable. It said the situation ran contrary to the government’s stated policy of making air travel accessible to the common man. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often spoken of his vision of enabling even those wearing “Hawai Chappals” to travel by air.

CTI Chairman Brijesh Goyal said the wedding season would begin on November 20, with millions of people expected to travel to attend weddings. The Chhath festival is also underway. However, the steep increase in airfares is forcing people to change their travel plans, explore alternative modes of transport or even reconsider travelling altogether.

According to a survey conducted by the CTI, airfares on several routes originating from Delhi have nearly doubled compared to their levels just a few days ago.

The organisation said the prevailing fares on some major routes were around Rs 18,000 for Delhi-Patna, Rs 20,000 for Delhi-Darbhanga, Rs 15,000 for Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 16,000-Rs 18,000 for Delhi-Bengaluru and Rs 11,000-Rs 15,000 for Delhi-Ahmedabad.

Goyal said fares on these routes had been considerably lower just a few days ago. The sudden escalation, he added, was imposing an additional financial burden on passengers, particularly families travelling together.

The CTI has put forward a series of demands for immediate government intervention.

First, it has sought regulation of airfares through an upper fare cap on every route to ensure that no airline charges passengers beyond a prescribed maximum limit.

Second, it has called for a transparent fare-fixing mechanism based on distance and the kilometres travelled. Ticket prices, it argued, should reflect the distance covered, as flights operating over 500 km and 1,500 km should not be charged at similar rates.

Third, the organisation has urged the government to increase flight frequency on high-demand routes, particularly Delhi-Patna, Delhi-Darbhanga, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Bengaluru.

Finally, it has called for the introduction of two to three new airlines in the country to encourage competition in the aviation sector and provide passengers with more affordable travel options.