Airlines are finally budging. The Director General of Civil Aviation has said they are ready to reduce the ticket charges that have been ruling exorbitantly high despite a decline in air traffic over the last couple of months.
With prices of aviation turbine fuel also declining in tandem with international oil prices, it is high time that the airlines decrease the ticket charges.
Director General of Civil Aviation EK Bharat Bhushan on Monday met CEOs of scheduled domestic airlines and expressed his concerns on the exponential increase in airfares of certain airlines on various domestic sectors, Firstpost reported. “When a request is made in public interest by the DGCA, almost all airlines follow it,” Bharat Bhushan was quoted as saying in a report in The Hindu Business Line.
He also assured that there would be a reduction in the next few days.
Airlines’ yields got a boost in May on two factors: one, the reduction in ATF prices have not been passed on to consumers; secondly, capacity addition has been rationalised, which means there are less empty seats on aircraft, according to a report by Firstpost.
May being a busy month, the airlines have managed to keep the fares high despite a fall in demand, which means the earnings in the last month, will offset the coming lean season.
So, the airline companies are unlikely to be hit by the fare reduction, Mint reports.
With prices of aviation turbine fuel also declining in tandem with international oil prices, it is high time that the airlines decrease the ticket charges. Reuters
Moreover, the cut in fares is applicable only for tickets in the higher buckets. As much as 60 percent of the seats are sold in advance at cheaper rates. This will ensure that the airlines are unlikely to be impacted by this, the report quoted an analyst from Angel Broking as saying.
“Watch the airline websites and the lower fares will be visible,” an optimistic Bhushan was quoted as saying.
Well , that was a dramatic way to present the news. But will the fall in fares be as dramatic?
