NEW DELHI: As airfares soared and flights were cancelled, aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday asked airlines to reduce fares on ten high-density domestic routes to “reasonable levels.
A senior official at DGCA said that ticket prices on high-density routes have risen up to 30 per cent in last one month. Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that aviation ministry will also convene a meeting of airlines, airport representatives over capacity expansion and airfare issues on April 18. Kharola also said that 90 per cent of Jet’s slots which are not being used were being temporarily distributed to other airlines.
He added that around 21 planes are expected to be added to the fleet of domestic carriers by the end of May. Together, there would be a good number of additional planes to meet the peak season demand, the regulatory officer said. Some of the airlines are also in discussions with lessors to take deregistered aircraft of Jet Airways. SpiceJet recently had announced inducting 16 Boeing planes, which were used by Jet Airways earlier.
Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations.
"Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc," Prabhu said in a tweet.
Reeling under a debt of over Rs 8,000 crore, Jet Airways has grounded almost its entire fleet and is currently operating only 5 planes, according to civil aviation officials. The management of the airline has sought funds from the lenders to remain operational, but lenders are yet to finalize any plan on this.
Unconfirmed reports said that Jet Airways which held a board meeting on Monday requested the release of at least Rs 400 crore from lenders. Jet CEO Vinay Dube is believed to have written a letter to chief lender SBI in this regard. The management also reportedly has warned lenders that it has board's approval to halt all operations if lenders don't agree to finance.
In a filing to BSE, Jet Airways reacted to queries from the stock exchanges on a media report that said “Jet Airways likely to temporarily shut down its operations” stating it is awaiting emergency liquidity support from the consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India.
It said that the operations have been severely impacted due to the liquidity conditions and added “The company’s leadership, in consultation with its Board of Directors, is engaged with lenders in connection with the said emergency funding request to arrest further deterioration of its services and minimize inconvenience to its guests.”