Indian carriers, reeling under jet fuel costs and slowing passenger growth, have decided to write to the civil aviation ministry to review the recently-mulled government directive that airlines should refund the passenger service fees, congestion surcharge and fuel surcharge in case of ticket cancellations. These three components make up for around 60-80 per cent of the total ticket fare.
This was one of the decisions taken in the meeting held by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), a lobbying body of the Indian carriers, yesterday in Mumbai. According to sources, the federation has also decided to include cargo carrier Blue Dart on its board.
Currently, the carriers only refund the basic fare which could be as low as Re 1.
"The civil aviation secretary had verbally assured us that the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) related to refundment of ticket fares would be reviewed, keeping in mind the current industry scenario. However, since the reviewed guidelines have not come yet, we have decided to formally write to the ministry," said an FIA member, and low cost carrier executive.
Indian carriers had told the ministry that the new CAR which required them to refund more than 60 per cent of the total ticket fare would mean a huge drain on their revenues at a time when the industry was meant to make huge losses.
Also, the inclusion of Blue Dart, another key decision taken in the meeting, would help the lobbying body bring up issues related to cargo to be taken up before the government.
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"The discussion for being a part of FIA had begun a week before. If we are included in FIA, we will take up infrastructure problems related to the cargo industry at various airports," said a Blue Dart executive.
The carrier has been facing major infrastructure problems in the seven airports that it operates from. For instance, while cargo tonnage carried by the carrier has increased by almost five times in the last ten years, the space allocated to them at several airports like Delhi have remained the same due to limited infrastructure at the airports.
Higher space lease rentals at various airports have also been a problem.
Over the last one year, rentals paid for facilities like warehouses and dockets at various airports, have increased from anywhere between 7.5 per cent to as much as 450 per cent.
Indian airports fall far behind in terms of cargo facilities. While the Frankfurt Airport in Germany handles, 5,200 metric tonnes of cargo per day, much more than an Indian airport handles in one month.