NEW DELHI: Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, who assumed office as the Union Civil Aviation minister on Thursday, said that his top priority is to bring down airfares which have skyrocketed in recent times. He added that it is very important for airfares to remain affordable for India to become the leading domestic aviation market in the world.
“Since the time I have been announced as civil aviation minister. Wherever I go, people have been mentioning that the prices have increased over the last few years, especially after Covid. I need a thorough understanding of the issue, so, I am going to sit with the stakeholders,” said Naidu.
On the back of high demand and low capacity addition by airlines, airfares have seen a sharp surge in recent times. As per data from Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel, ticket prices on major domestic routes like Kolkata-Bagdogra, Delhi-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Mumbai have seen a yearly rise of up to 12.7% in May.
“...we will make civil aviation or the air travel in this country more approachable to the common man of this country, and more easily accessible...I’m stressing the word ease of flying, let it be, in the sense of the comfort, or the convenience or the safety, security, whatever aspects it comes regarding the passenger that is choosing air travel, we would make him the core of whatever planning or thought process we are going through today,” Naidu said.