Air fares are set to go high as the Narendra Modi government announced levy to fund its ambitious for regional connectiviy scheme. Flyers will soon have to spend out marginally more for tickets. Under the scheme airfares will be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights on unserved and under-served routes.
According to a PTI report, the proposed scheme would be applicable for air services connecting “unserved and under-served routes” ranging from 200 to 800 km, while there would be no lower limit for hilly, remote, island and security sensitive regions.
The first plan is to revive 31 inactive airports. There are 394 unserved and 16 under-served airports in the country. The news agency also quoted Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey as saying: “Of the total 410 airports, the scheme is demand driven. Wherever the state governments and airlines are coming forward for making them functional, we would be very happy to revive those airports.”
