Get ready to cough up extra money for traveling within the country from flights.
The government has hiked airfare price by 10-30 per cent for domestic flights. The increase in domestic airfare’s lower and upper limits would remain “in force up to March 31, 2021, or until further orders”, the civil aviation ministry said in its order.
The government on May 21 last year —flight operation had resumed on May 25 after easing of nationwide lockdown imposed to check spread of Covid-19 pandemic in India — had airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration.
The first such band includes flights with a travel time of less than 40 minutes. The airfare for this band has been increased from Rs 2,000-Rs 6,000 to Rs 2,200-Rs 7,8000.
For flights with duration of 40-60 minutes, the lower and upper limits of airfare have been increased to Rs 2,800-Rs 9,800 from Rs 2,500 – Rs 7,500.
For 60-90 minutes of flight journey, the airfare has been increased from Rs 3,000-Rs 9,000 to Rs 3,300Rs 11,700.
For flight duration of 90-120 minutes, the airfare has gone up from Rs 3,500-Rs 10,000 to Rs 3,900 Rs 13,000.
For flight journey of 120-150 minutes, the old bracket of airfare of Rs 4,500-Rs 13,000 has been revised to Rs 5,000 Rs 16,900.
For flights of durations 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes, the airfares have increased from Rs 5,500-Rs 15,700 and Rs 6,500-Rs 18,600 to Rs 6,100Rs 20,400 and Rs 7,200Rs 24,200 respectively.
In May 2020, the aviation regulator DGCA had directed the airlines to sell at least 40 per cent of its tickets on a flight at prices less than the midpoint of the lower and upper limits. Back then, the government had asked the airlines to operate at a maximum of 33 per cent of their pre-Covid-19 domestic flights.
The operation cap was increased a month later on June 26 to 45 per cent before raising it to 80 per cent level gradually. The civil aviation ministry on Thursday kept the 80 per cent limit in effect till March.
