The Hindu Business Line : SpiceJet cancels 15 flights in South

Bangalore, June 2 Low cost airlines have starting turning away from the new international airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore with SpiceJet having cancelled nearly 15 flights in the South, with most of them from these two airports.

SpiceJet chief commercial officer, Mr Samyukth Sridharan, told Business Line that the airline now runs only one flight out of Bangalore and Hyderabad while flights to Chennai from Hyderabad and from Bangalore to Kochi have been cancelled.

“We expected the demand from these two new airports to drop which is what has happened,” he said. He said since the opening of these two airports, loads have dropped between 6 per cent and 8 per cent. The airline will continue to take a closer look at each and every flight and decide which one of these are viable. “This will be continuous process. If we don’t take tough measures, our sustainability will be impacted,” he said.

Capt G.R. Gopinath, the Vice-Chairman of Deccan Aviation, which runs Simplyfly Deccan, said the airline may have to relook at some of the short haul flights.

“We knew this would happen. We had predicted that the new international airport in Bangalore would lose passengers not to other airports but to buses and trains, which is what is happening now,” he said.

Mr Sridharan said that unless the Government decides to take measures to stop the decline of the airline industry, several airlines will have to close down. “It is an emergency situation. The Government has to take a hard relook at what it is doing to the industry,” he said.

Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation chief for India, Mr Kapil Kaul, said that he fears that some airlines might in fact close down if aviation turbine fuel is not reduced. He said the average sales tax, which ranges between 4 per cent and 36 per cent from State-to-State, needs to be lowered.

“There must be a uniform tax of 4 per cent on ATF to start with and several more measures need to be taken to revive the industry,” he said.

Mr Kaul said that the Government would be undoing the good work that has happened so far by being passive about the rising oil prices which has started affecting the ATF. He said the airlines are no longer able to absorb the loss arising out of increase in ATF prices. “They have no other option but to pass them on to the passengers,” he said.