Cap air fare below 20k for tourism growth

The proposal of government of India to regulate air fares on domestic routes have been lauded by the tourism fraternity in the valley. However, they demanded that cap should be lowered below Rs 20,000.
With ongoing crisis of beleaguered SpiceJet spurring hike in air fare, the aviation ministry has announced capping fares to maximum of Rs 20,000 for economy on domestic routes.
Appreciating the move tourism players said regulating airfare would prove beneficial for the tourism sector in Kashmir as it would encourage more tourists to travel to valley.
“We pitched for it continuously. Many of our customers were reluctant to visit Kashmir due to steep increase in airfares,” said Peerzada Fayaz Ahmad President Travel Agents Association of Kashmir.
A senior official from aviation ministry had said after getting complaints of exorbitant charges from places like Jammu and Kashmir, northeast India and Andaman and Nicobar there was a need to cap maximum economy class airfare at a reasonable price.
Peerzada said they raised the issue with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to valley on Diwali.
“We raised the issue with PM and urged him to regulate the airfares during tourist season,” said Peerzada.
Peerzada said the association has also sent the memorandum to Union Tourism Ministry and Ministry of Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma to deliberate on it.
As soon as tourist season sets in Kashmir, airlines increase fares sharply making travelling to Valley a costly affair. In March, the tickets from Mumbai to Srinagar cost Rs 31,451 while from Mumbai to Dubai were only Rs 9830.
President Travel Association Society of Kashmir (TASK) Showkat Pakhtoon said travelers often complain about high air fare on Kashmir route.
“Due to the increase in airfare many of our customers prefer to travel to other tourist destination over Kashmir. I hope GoI regulates airfares soon so that more tourists visit Valley,” said Pakhtoon.
Pakhtoon, however, said authorities should cap maximum fare for economy class to less than Rs 20,000. “I think the upper cap suggested by civil aviation ministry is still is unaffordable for many travelers.”
Even spot fares (tickets purchased at the last minute which always go for the highest price) are not supposed to go beyond the limit the ministry plans to set.
However, the ministry has no plans to regulate business class fares.
Earlier, state government had expressed helplessness to control steep increase in air fares of private airlines operating on Srinagar route.
“What can the state government do? We have no authority to dictate terms to private airlines. The air fares are high in every state of India. The best way to overcome this problem is to plan your trip in advance,” former tourism minister G.A Mir had told Rising Kashmir earlier this year.