Airfare for domestic travel to be 15% more expensive from June, MoCA

Flight tickets on the domestic itinerary will be more expensive starting June 1. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has released a notice in this respect, announcing that the threshold on domestic airfares would be raised from 13% to 16% effective from June 1. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided that the ticket for domestic travel of less than 40 minutes be increased by Rs 2,300 to Rs 2,600, which is a 13% increase over the present rate. Domestic flights with a duration of 40 minutes to one hour, on the other side, will have charges starting at Rs 3,300. Furthermore, the government had previously set a limit of Rs 2,900 for such travels.

Whereas domestic flights running 60-90 minutes will cost Rs 4,000, 90-120 minutes would cost Rs 4,700, 150-180 minutes would cost Rs 6,100, and 180-210 minutes would cost Rs 7,400. Flights in the above-mentioned time frame are now cheaper by Rs 300 to Rs 1,000. To put it another way, a flight between Delhi and Mumbai will cost Rs 700 more than it does now. The Ministry has agreed to raise the airfare caused by a combination of circumstances, the first of which is a drop in passenger flow and the second of which is the passenger load factor (PLF).

The action was also taken by the Ministry, since India's air operators are suffering significant losses, and the second wave of Covid-19 has exacerbated the crisis for companies that operate passenger airlines. The Civil Aviation Ministry said on Friday that from June 1, airlines would be allowed to operate just 50% of their pre-Covid domestic flights, rather than the current 80 per cent. According to the official government directive "In view of the sudden surge in the number of active Covid-19 cases across the country, decrease in passenger traffic and passenger load factor, the existing capacity cap of 80 per cent...is (being) modified."