Festive season air travel: DGCA reviews rising fares, asks airlines to add more flights amid rush

Amid the ongoing festive season, the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has asked airlines to increase flight deployment to curb the surge in ticket prices, it said in an announcement on Sunday. The DGCA, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), has to keep a watch on airfares and take appropriate measures in case of a surge in prices.

"The DGCA proactively took up the issue/matter with airlines and asked them to augment flight capacities for the festive season by deploying additional flights to meet high demand," the announcement read.

The festive season in India starts from Dussehra and continues until Chhath. It sees a significant surge in passenger movement and ticket prices, particularly in North India.

Air travel also becomes the preferred choice of travel for many, as other modes are often crowded during this period. This year, ticket prices are expected to be further impacted by a rise in Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices.

In the past four months, the prices of fuel have increased by around ₹12,000 per kiloliter. A discount of ₹1,300 was provided last month, but the overall trend shows steady increases of ₹100 to ₹1,000 at a time. ATF accounts for over 50% of an airline’s operational costs, having a direct impact on ticket prices.

Airlines to operate additional flights during festive season

In the announcement on Sunday, the DGCA stated that airlines will add additional flights to cater to the demand.

IndiGo will deploy around 730 additional flights across 42 sectors.

Air India and Air India Express will add around 486 flights across 20 sectors.

SpiceJet will operate 546 additional flights across 38 sectors.

"The DGCA will maintain rigorous oversight of airline fares and flight capacities to protect passengers’ interests during the festive season," the regulator said.

Pilots' body asks DGCA to check all Boeing 787s

On Sunday, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) also urged the DGCA to thoroughly check and investigate the electrical system of all Boeing 787 aircraft in the country. This comes a day after a Boeing 787 plane operated by Air India from Amritsar to Birmingham saw the deployment of emergency turbine power when it was about to land in the UK city. The airline said that the crew of the flight said the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) was deployed unexpectedly during the final approach, but the aircraft landed safely.

In the Air India aircraft incident, the Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) picked up a fault of the Bus Power Control Unit (BPCU), which may have caused the auto deployment of RAT, FIP President G S Randhawa said in the letter to DGCA.

"The (Birmingham flight) incident occurred when the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployed automatically at 500 ft on approach into Birmingham... the Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) has picked up a fault of the Bus Power Control Unit (BPCU) which may have caused the auto deployment of RAT," the pilots' body, which claims to represent over 5000 cockpit crew members, said in the letter.

(With PTI inputs)