SRINAGAR, India – Steep hike in airfares has raised serious concern in Kashmir’s tourism industry, with stakeholders accusing the airliners of “deliberately” trying to make Kashmir “the costliest and least preferred destination,” to cut out tourist inflow.
According to stakeholders this has now become a pattern with the airliners that at the inception of every tourism season in Kashmir “they unilaterally and arbitrarily increase the fares on this sector making Kashmir packages unaffordable.”
Presently, Air India charges in the range of Rs 20,000 airfare on Delhi-Srinagar sector, Jet Airways – Rs 19,000, Spice Jet – Rs 12,000 and Indigo – Rs 9,000.
Interestingly, the airfares for other destinations both within and outside the country, are much cheaper as compared to Kashmir.
Air India’s fare on Delhi-Dubai sector is in the range of Rs 11,000 and for Oman it is just Rs 9,000 which is half the fare being charged on Delhi-Srinagar segment.
Similarly, airfares from Delhi to Malaysia and Singapore are in the range of Rs 17,093 and Rs 14,883 respectively. Interestingly, Srinagar-Delhi flight duration is between 1:15 to 1.30 hours, while as the duration time between Delhi to Dubai or Malaysia or Singapore is more than three hours.
The airfare as per online travel portals is even much lesser to several other tourism destinations in the country. The airfare from Delhi to Goa is in the range of just Rs 7,000 and Delhi-Shimla is Rs 6,000.
While the airfare on short haul Srinagar-Jammu sector is more than Rs 10,000.
Stakeholders’ take
President, Adventure Tour Operators’ Association of Kashmir (ATOAK), Rauf Tramboo said it is a well designed ploy to derail the tourism industry in the Kashmir.
“Tourism players for the last three years have been pleading before Civil Aviation ministry and other departments concerned to tame the unilateral airfare hikes by airliners but our pleas have every time gone unheard,” he said.
Tramboo added that last year the airfare from Delhi- Srinagar was hovering around Rs 18,000 but this year it has crossed all limits and touched all time high Rs 30,000 which is unheard off.
“The hikes have affected not only our tourism sector, these have also hit students and patients who have to travel outside the state not for luxury but because of necessity,” he said.
Tramboo said there is no regulatory authority to check the unilateral and arbitrary airfare hike by the airlines.
TAAK
President, Travel Agents’ Association of Kashmir, Peerzada Fayaz said that government has failed to act against the airliners. “State government should act against these airliners,” he said.
Not just the tourists, even the locals, particularly the patients and students suffer because of the phenomenally high airfares.
“Kashmir does not have the train connectivity with rest of the country. So a local patient or student, travelling from Delhi or Jammu or for that matter from any other place in India to Kashmir, has no alternative but to come by air. The steep airfares make it extremely difficult for them to afford the journey,” said Inaam ul Haq, a local resident.
HOTELIERS’ CLUB
Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Hoteliers’ Club, Mushtaq Chaya alleged that the airliners are looting people as well as tourists.
“Jammu-Srinagar air ticket costs more than Rs 12,000 while from Delhi-Srinagar it is more than Rs 20,000. This makes our packages unaffordable. Once you have such rates, who will visit Kashmir,” he said.
“Recently a group of tourists cancelled their Kashmir package because of high airfares and they told me that it’s cheaper to go to Switzerland than to come to Kashmir,” he said, adding that there is dire need of taking immediate measures to curb this “onslaught” by airliners.
KASHMIR SOCIETY
Chairman, Kashmir Society, Khawaja Farooq Renzu Shah said: “We have already suggested to the concerned quarters that the airliners operating on J&K sector should keep fixed airfares for state subjects.”
Shah suggested that Airport Authority of India should issue a circular fixing the airfares. “The rates should be fixed at Rs 2500 on Jammu-Srinagar sector and Rs 3500 on Delhi-Srinagar sector for the state subjects.”
“The hike in the fares which has affected our tourism industry, and caused the problems to the Kashmiri students studying in different parts of the country and patients going outside for medical care is a burning issue and needs to be resolved quickly,” he said
“Thousands of students of Kashmir are studying outside. When the highway gets blocked, their families as also the students have no alternative but to travel by air,” he said, adding that because of the fare hike, it “would be impossible for them to afford the air travel.”
KCCI
Secretary General, KCCI, Musadiq Shah said the phenomena of ever-increasing airfares is badly affecting the economy of Kashmir.
“Its first casualty is tourism industry, which gets badly affected. Secondly, the airliners are making money out of the plight of the people who travel outside places for treatment,” Shah said.
He added that KCCI has already raised the issue with CEOs of all the private airliners and Union Ministry of Civil Aviation. “We are waiting for their response. If they won’t act positively, then chamber will take legal recourse,” he said.
KEA
Chairman, Kashmir Economic Alliance, (KEA), Muhammad Yaseen Khan said that they fail to understand why all of sudden the airliners hike the fares on Kashmir sector, while the fares on other sectors remains almost same throughout the year.
“It shows how Kashmir is being treated and it is a ploy of the central government to derail our economy,” Khan said.
KHARA
President, Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association, Showkat Chowdhary said the hike in airfares is shooing away tourists from Kashmir.
“Traveling to Kashmir has become costlier as compared to foreign destinations. Indian tourists instead of visiting Kashmir prefer to travel to other cheaper destinations,” he said.
TASK
President Task, Ibrahim Siah said state government has failed to protect the interests of the traders’ community in the state.
“We are now fed up with pleading before ministers and government officials asking them to intervene in this important issue. The airliners are looting common people while the state is mum,” Siah said.
MINISTER’S TAKE
When contacted, Minister for Tourism, Ghulam Ahmad Mir told Greater Kashmir that the state government has started “ground work for reducing passenger tax in order to lessen the burden on common people.”
“I recently met the Union Minister for Civil Aviation who categorically rejected our demand for fixing any upper ceiling on airfares. However, he assured that the centre will help in reducing some of its taxes to give some relief to the passengers,” he said.
“The least the state government and the Government of India can do is to minimize the taxes on airfare. Both centre and the state governments are working on it and hopefully something would come out,” Mir assured, adding that the government cannot act against the private airliners.
Mir said: “The travel and tour operators who book air tickets in advance under fictitious names are also one of the causes of staggering price of air tickets.”
