Jat quota stir: Airlines to operate more flights

Chandigarh-Delhi fare on travel portals touches Rs 99,000

With road and rail traffic severely disrupted through Haryana due to the Jat stir for quota resulting in airfares on the Chandigarh-Delhi sector shooting up, the government stepped in on Sunday, with the civil aviation ministry asking airlines to operate additional flights between New Delhi and Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur to enable stranded people reach their destinations, even as certain travel portal websites reportedly showed that a one-way airfare from Chandigarh to New Delhi on Sunday morning had reached almost a lakh of rupees. However, the air-fares on this sector (one-way) on Sunday evening for a booking for Monday was showing a fare of Rs 15,000 to Rs 23,000 which in itself is quite high for an hour-long flight but there were hardly any seats available even on these fares. The government said national carrier Air India and private airlines Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo are operating additional flights in view of the “ongoing road blockade and disturbances”. It said the government had “organised” the flights. Aviation regulator DGCA may also keep a close watch on air-fares being charged on these sectors.

According to some reports, the fares on the Chandigarh-Delhi sector on travel portals on Sunday morning had reached upwards of Rs 99,000 but this was probably the business class fare on flights with stopovers at other cities since seats on the Chandigarh-Delhi non-stop flights had almost all been sold out for spot bookings.

An official of a private airline was quoted by news agencies as saying, “Some fares seen on third party online travel portals are constructed by those websites by combining the last available seats on indirect routes with multi-stop flights constructed over any mid-point transfer city to create a roundabout itinerary. In many cases business class cabin fares are shown,” adding that these fares were not available on the websites of individual airlines, and that efforts were therefore being made to persuade travel portals not to indicate such fares.

The civil aviation ministry asked the airlines to mount additional capacity on these routes as rail and road transport services were completely paralysed in the wake of the agitation.

According to news agency reports, budget carrier SpiceJet said it is operating 14 additional services from the national capital to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur and back, while Jet Airways said it will operate two additional flights, one each to Chandigarh and Amritsar from Delhi on Monday.

“The additional flights have been put in place at a very short notice and we are the only airline to be operating a total of seven additional return flights (14 one-way) on the requisite routes to facilitate the stranded commuters,” SpiceJet was quoted as saying.

National carrier Air India said, “Air India has again spread its wings to fly out passengers stranded due to the sensitive situation along all surface transport routes in the adjoining areas arising out of the Jat agitation. AI is operating an additional flight from Delhi at 1730 hrs today ... to bring back people stranded at Chandigarh and Amritsar and also reach people there. Unlike most competitors, Air India is charging a nominal all-inclusive fare of Rs 3960. All-inclusive one-way fare between Delhi to Chandigarh-is Rs 3339 while the fare is 3960 between Delhi and Amritsar.”

Jet Airways said it was operating additional services to assist those who have been inconvenienced by the lack of availability of other means of transportation to and from these cities.

Gurgaon-based IndiGo said it was adding an additional flight on its Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes, which will be operated tomorrow. “The airline will also commence two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on February 23 to enable those stranded due to the ongoing protests to travel between the two cities,” it said.

Airport managers in these airports have been given clear instructions to facilitate best possible services to stranded passengers, IndiGo added. GoAir will also operate four additional flights — two each to Chandigarh and Jaipur — from Delhi tomorrow.