With the demand for air travel picking up,
low-cost carriers (LCCs) like IndiGo and SpiceJet are
charging as much as full-service carriers such as Jet Airways and Air India. Surprisingly, LCCs were found to be charging even 10-50 per cent more than fullservice airlines on some of the routes in August, which is usually considered a lean month for the aviation sector, a study by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) says.
All airlines have to inform the DGCA every month of both minimum and maximum fares they intend to charge on specific routes. LCCs don't offer free meals or in-flight entertainment to passengers while full-service carriers provide added facilities.
After going through the tariff cited on its website during August, the DGCA in its report said that the highest fare offered by LCCs is more than the fullservice carriers. An official of a low-cost airline said that prices are based on demand and never exceed the maximum fare bracket filed with the DGCA. According to industry officials, there are other factors like ontime arrival and departure, facilitation at airports and other issues that passengers consider while choosing carriers.
Aviation expert Jitender Bhargava said, " India is a price-sensitive market but at the same time you have lowcost carriers charging higher fares than full- service airlines in the same sector.
There are a lot of issues that go into a customer's preference.
Passengers are willing to pay more for travelling by low- cost carrier knowing very well that they will have to pay for food and other things on board." Bhargava added, " In fact, fares being charged by fullservice carriers in the current environment are not economically justifiable as their cost of operations are high." LCCs have even charged more than full- service airlines on routes such as Delhi- Goa, Delhi- Visakhapatnam, Mumbai- Bhuj, Delhi- Bhubaneshwar, Port Blair- Chennai, Jabalpur- Delhi and Visakhapatnam- Mumbai recently.
In the Delhi- Goa sector, Spice-Jet and IndiGo charged Rs10,006 and Rs11,534 respectively while the AI ticket cost Rs7,847. Similarly, in the Udaipur- Delhi sector, fares of LCCs were more than 100 per cent higher than AI. While the national carrier charged Rs4,282 for one- way ticket, Jet Konnect charged Rs8,698 and SpiceJet Rs5,280.
In the Delhi-Port Blair sector, AI charged Rs9,407 while the SpiecJet ticket cost Rs10,112. On the Vishakhapatnam- Mumbai route, a SpiceJet ticket would cost Rs7,343 and IndiGo Rs6,565 while AI Rs5,482.
Fares have skyrocketed in the past few months. Most metro air routes are reporting almost 100- per cent hike in fares for tickets booked for the festive season ahead till early January next year. Domestic carriers have indiscriminately hiked fares by over 50- 60 per cent compared with the last year.
Courtesy: Mail Today
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