Number of air passengers has gone up from 60 mn in 2014 to 145 mn now: Govt

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the number of air passengers has gone up from six crore in 2014 to 14.5 crore at present and added that airfares are competitive with the railway AC first class fares.

The minister was asked about rising airfares during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

Scindia said that the civil aviation sector is a deregulated sector and despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising jet fuel cost, airfares have not increased in the same proportion.

"There were only six crore travellers in 2014. In the last nine years, this number has gone up to 14.5 crore," Scindia said.

He said airfare today is competitive with the fare of the AC First Class of the Indian Railways.

"We estimate, by 2030, there will be 42 crore air passengers and the sector will grow three times," he said.

IUML MP E T Mohd Basheer asked the minister about the rise in fares during holiday and festival seasons and in case of natural calamities, and said that the government should not leave people "at the mercy of airlines".

He also asked what is the definition of a "reasonable profit" for airlines.

Scindia, in response, said, "We must understand the situation in civil aviation space. Civil aviation is a seasonal sector. We have a tariff monitoring unit that looks at 60 routes randomly.... If you do the booking in advance, the fare will not be high," he said.

"In the last three years, airlines have made losses (ranging) from Rs 55,000 crore to Rs 1,30,000 crore. Covid has destroyed the financial viability of airlines," he said.

"Air turbine fuel is close to 40 per cent of operating cost of airlines. ATF prices have gone up three times, airfares have gone up nowhere in rationale," he said.