Alliance Air reduces weekly flights between Kullu, Delhi

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, December 18

In a yet another blow to Kullu’s tourism industry in the winter season, the sole operational national regional flag carrier, Alliance Air, has reduced operations between Kullu and Delhi to four times a week till March.

The airline operated daily flights between Kullu and Delhi. However, now the flights will operate only on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The airline had halted the operations between Chandigarh and Kullu last month. Meanwhile, the newly launched operations between Kullu and Amritsar are still available for three days in a week.

Kullu has a highly seasonal market and the air traffic is usually high in May and June during the summer season. July through September is traditionally a leaner period as travel is restricted due to monsoon and other religious reasons.

With the beginning of festive season, traffic picks up again in October and increases during Christmas and New Year. However, it diminishes by mid-January and continues till April. Following this, the demand increases due to summer holidays.

The airfares are dynamic in nature and follow the principle of demand and supply. The fares are also dependent on a number of other factors such as the number of seats already sold on a particular flight, prevailing fuel price, capacity of the aircraft operating on the route, competition on the sector, season, holidays, festivals, long weekends and events like sports, fairs etc.

The airline generally charges exorbitant fares ranging between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 from Kullu to Delhi. The maximum fare charged by the airline for the 80-minute-long flight from Kullu to Delhi is Rs 26,367. The airline is offering a fare of around Rs 15,000 during December.

Aviation experts said the weather during the months of December and January is generally not favourable for air operations, but the airline still carried out daily operations. They said the operations have been halted for 10 to 20 days in the wake of inclement weather during winters in the past too. They added this time, however, it seems that the airline has reduced the frequency of air operations due to low demand.

Beneficiaries of the tourism industry said people do not prefer to travel by air due to hefty fares. They said if the fares are made affordable and some other airlines also start operations here, the demand will increase. They said the government should intervene and direct the airline to restart daily operations between Kullu, Chandigarh and Delhi as early as possible.

Residents said the government air carrier should lay more emphasis on public utility than profiteering.