‘Ease of flying’ top priority, will work to make airfares affordable, says Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu | Business News
Ensuring “ease of flying” for the common Indian would be the key priority area for the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the government will work with the stakeholders—primarily airlines—in order to make airfares “affordable and accessible”, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said Thursday.
Naidu, a Telugu Desam Party lawmaker, took charge as the cabinet minister for civil aviation on Thursday. Outlining his vision for his ministry and the civil aviation sector, Naidu said that the passenger will be the “core” of all policies and efforts. Increasing air connectivity to tier two and tier three cities and towns and remote areas will also be a key focus area for MoCA and the ministry will actively engage with states on the same.
Speaking on the issue of high airfares, Naidu told reporters: “Not just as a minister, I have been observing this (high airfares) as a passenger also for the last four years…It is a cause of concern”. Given that airfares are deregulated in India, Naidu said that reducing airfares is not a decision he can take alone as a minister.
“I have to have review meetings on that (airfares)…call the airlines’ people and have to sit with my officials also…I will definitely make it an important priority point in my review meetings…the prices also need to be affordable to the common customer,” the minister said, adding that the achieve the objective of making India the world’s largest domestic aviation market, airfares need to be affordable.
Demand for air travel has been surging in the post-pandemic period, and with supply chain issues and engine woes hitting aircraft capacity, aviation markets in many parts of the world—including India—have seen a significant demand-supply mismatch, leading to higher airfares particularly during peak travel periods. Additionally, high jet fuel prices have also been blamed. India is the third-largest aviation market after the United States (US) and China, and also the fastest-growing major aviation market in the world.
Indian being an extremely price sensitive market, the issue of high airfares has grabbed headlines over the past couple of years. In February, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture went to the extent of recommending route-specific capping of airfares and establishment of a quasi-judicial body with powers to exercise control over airfares.
Given that all major airlines in India are private sector players, the government has so far shied away from regulating airfares, although it has been monitoring the fare spikes and has been in conversations with airlines on the issue. The government has so far maintained that in a deregulated environment, capping fares would lead to market distortion and the benefits of competition will not be available to passengers at large.
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