Airlines fly 14% fewer flights than approved for winter: Vayalar Ravi

Domestic airlines are operating almost 14 per cent fewer flights than approved for the winter schedule.

Although 1,910 flights had got the nod by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, the airlines are operating only 1,643 flights daily, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Vayalar Ravi, told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The winter schedule started on October 30.

Alliance Air and Go Air are the only two airlines which are operating the exact number of daily departures which were approved.

Alliance Air operates 50 daily flights while Go Air operates all the 82 daily departures that were approved.

In the winter schedule, the cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines is operating about 42 per cent fewer flights than has been approved.

The Minister told Parliament that while 418 daily departures were approved for Kingfisher Airlines, it was operating only 243 flights a day.

Jet Airways operates 395 of the 404 daily approved departures while JetLite operates 109 daily flights of the 120 approved daily departures.

The State-owned Air India operates 255 of the 262 approved daily flights, the Minister informed the House.

The decrease in flights is, however, not leading to domestic air fares moving northwards.

“The demand in the domestic market has slowed down. This year, the growth has been below 10 per cent during the current month compared to the same time last year when the market was growing at 10-15 per cent. Airlines are still selling tickets below their costs,” said Mr Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Amadeus India.

The company provides agents' access to more than 95 per cent of scheduled airline seats as well as hotel rooms.

ashphadnis@thehindu.co.in

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