Air India Kullu-Delhi fare hike has flyers, hoteliers fuming

Our Correspondent

Kullu, March 27

The Air India has hiked the airfare between Kullu and Delhi with the onset of the summer season. Earlier, the airline used to charge a maximum fare of around Rs 16,200 while now the fare has been increased to over Rs 18,500 for one-way travel. Natasha, a frequent air traveller, said the airline was charging exorbitant fare for the one-hour flight.

Ellen, a foreign tourist, said she was not able to secure a ticket for travelling from Kullu to Delhi in the last week of March as the seats were not available online.

Air India station manager here confirmed that there was heavy booking due to the onset of summer season and seats were not available on most of the days, even for a full fare of Rs 18,507.

Recently, the Kullu-Manali Airport at Bhuntar was included under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme to make flying more affordable for the masses. However, no new players, and even the existing Air India, showed any interest in flying to any of the three airports in Himachal at the subsidized rates.

Aviation experts here say while new airlines are reluctant to introduce flights to this sector, even at prevailing high fares, it is unlikely that anyone would introduce new flights for low fares.

Meanwhile, Air India was not able to start its proposed operation between Chandigarh and Kullu from today. The authorities said slots were not available for this sector during the existent schedule. The executives of the airline said so far, there was no development on the proposed new flight with a small aircraft on Delhi-Shimla sector as well.

The Kullu Travel Agents Association resented the hefty fares being charged by the national carrier on Kullu-Delhi sector.

Bhupinder Thakur, patron of Kullu Travel Agents Association, said the airfares should be subsidised by the Central Government to promote tourism in the hill state. The airfares should be regulated so that the government can ensure public benefits and prevent fleecing of customers by the airlines, he added.

The stakeholders of the tourism industry allege that hefty fares and a limited number of seats were having an adverse impact on the tourist arrivals in Kullu. While the masses had expected much better air connectivity this summer season, with the bigger and smaller aircraft of Air India, the non-availability of seats and high fares had brought no relief to the visitors and the tourism industry.