"Arrest indiscriminate increase in airfares," CPI MP writes to Civil Aviation Minister

New Delhi [India], June 14 : Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam on Wednesday wrote a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and sought his intervention to "arrest the indiscriminate increase" in domestic airfare prices across the country.

Binoy Viswam in a letter to Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "I write to you seeking your intervention to arrest the indiscriminate increase in domestic airfare prices across the country, and the extreme hardship caused to the ordinary citizens of the country."

"I appreciate your effort in meeting executives from airlines to reduce the exorbitant prices of airlines and issuing advisories to keep the prices at a reasonable rate. However, the crude reality is that with several routes having only one regular flight, the prices have remained high", he added.

The Upper House MP from Kerala further said that the prices to and from several parts of Kerala are 200-300 per cent higher than normal. "As you have mentioned in our previous communication airlines are required to comply with regulatory provisions of Aircraft Rules, 1937 and airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs under the provisions of sub-rule (1) of rule 135. Yet, these airfares are neither reasonable nor just for the ordinary people of the country".

"While the government believes in 'democratising the air travel', I once again remind you that merely 4 per cent of Indians use air travel, placing India alongside poorer African countries in terms of per capita," he added.

CPI MP further said that the intervention of the government, in capping airline prices as it did during the pandemic is the need of the hour, in light of the exploitation of common citizens in the country.