A Parliamentary Standing Committee for Transport, Tourism and Culture has called on representatives of private airlines and the Association of Private Airport Operators (APAO) to attend a meeting on April 5 to discuss the issue of high airfares and exorbitant increases in airfares on select air routes.
IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir, Air India and SpiceJet are among the airlines summoned to depose before the panel, chaired by YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy, according to ANI.
"This is a vital issue as it concerns the cause of the common man. The exorbitant airfares on most flights are a concern, and therefore the panel will seek answers and the logic behind it from the concerned authorities," a source close to the development told ANI.
Kerala CM Wrote To PM Regarding High Airfares
Kerala Chief Minister Pinaravi Vijayan on April 30 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concerns over the high airfares charged by airlines for flights from Gulf countries to Kerala during peak and festival seasons. Vijayan stated that migrant workers are particularly affected by the unaffordable prices, sometimes having to pay several months' worth of savings for a ticket.
The letter noted that despite requests from migrant organizations and the Government of Kerala, airline operators have not responded favourably in the past to fixing airfares at reasonable levels.
The Chief Minister requested that the Central Government intervene proactively and initiate negotiations with airline companies operating in the India-Gulf sector to ensure that they do not adopt an exorbitant pricing strategy during peak-demand occasions.
The Kerala government has decided to operate additional or chartered flights at reasonable airfares during peak and festival seasons and vacations to low-income emigrants in Gulf countries.
The letter also requested that the civil aviation ministry accord the necessary approvals expeditiously for additional or charter flight operations booked by the government of Kerala from the second week of April 2023. Major festivals for Keralites such as Vishu, Easter, and Ramadan fall in the second and third weeks of April 2023.