Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is likely to announce a slew of passenger-friendly measures by his ministry on Thursday in the capital that could include reduction of flight cancellation
Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is likely to announce a slew of passenger-friendly measures by his ministry on Thursday in the capital that could include reduction of flight cancellation charges by airlines and increase in the compensation for passengers who are denied boarding on flights due to overbooking by airlines.
This comes at a time when airlines could hike airfares sharply due to a steep hike of 9.2 per cent in aviation turbine fuel prices by state-owned oil companies on Wednesday. ATF accounts for about 45 per cent of operating cost of airlines. So while any passenger-friendly measures announced by the government will gladden the hearts of passengers, any hike in airfares by airlines due to the government hiking ATF prices sharply will come as a dampener.
Meanwhile, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Wednesday said the government will make efforts to reduce further the incidents of flights getting cancelled. “No. (Number) of passengers affected due to cancelled flights shows sharp 35 per cent decrease. Shall strive to reduce this constantly,” Mr Raju was quoted as saying by news agency reports, along with a graphic showing the decline in the “passengers affected due to cancelled flights”. As per the graphic, the number of such passengers stood at 78,215 during the July 2015-April 2016 period. The same stood at 1,19,552 during the period July 2014-April 2015.
In April this year, as many as 5,025 passengers were reportedly affected by flight cancellations. But all eyes will be on the civil aviation ministry on the passenger-friendly measures expected to be unveiled by it to tackle overbooking and flight cancellations. Overbooking refers to the practice by airlines to sell more flight tickets for a flight than the actual number of seats. Airlines sometimes go horribly wrong in estimating how many passengers may cancel their journeys with the result that some passengers are often denied boarding if almost all passengers who purchased tickets for a flight turn up to board the aircraft since the airline would have sold more tickets than actual seats.
Any move by the Government to get airlines to reduce flight cancellation charges as well is also bound to be welcomed by passengers. Aviation regulator DGCA had earlier studied the issue of alleged steep hike in cancellation charges by airlines after complaints were made by passengers that these hikes were arbitrary in nature.
The measures expected to be announced by the ministry come even as a draft civil aviation policy is set to soon get the approval of the Cabinet. The policy is expected to stimulate the aviation market besides boosting regional connectivity and putting a cap on fares per hour on flights that are part of the regional connectivity initiative. The Ministry is also examining the measures it can take to combat high spot fares charged by airlines, even though the Government has always maintained that it will not regulate fares and that air-fares are decided by airlines themselves through dynamic pricing.
