Fly simply

The strike by private airlines may have been called off but the problems haven't gone away. We get experts to tell us what ails the industry and how it can be set right

Fly simply

The strike by private airlines may have been called off but the problems haven't gone away. We get experts to tell us what ails the industry and how it can be set right

An officer with the Airports Authority of India said that if airlines are punctual and stick to schedules, they'd end up saving huge amounts on fuel cost.

"A flight delay has a cascading effect on the cost," he said. "If your take-off is delayed, you will end up burning more fuel because you won't get parking at the destination." According to him, only two airlines in India are punctual Indigo with 96 per cent punctuality and Paramount with 93 per cent.

No go: Airlines are finding it difficult to sell business class tickets

The regulator?

B C Thiruvengadam, a leading advocate in the civil aviation sector, attributes the current situation to the absence of a regulator.

"When you have privatised a sector, you need a market regulator to overview tariff structure," he said.u00a0 "In the absence of a regulator, there is no transparency in fares."

For instance, some private airports levy a user development fee (UDF) in addition to a passenger service fee (PSF) which amounts to a double levy. "This makes the cost of flying artificially high and drives passengers away during tough times like now," he said.

Captain G R Gopinath, the pioneer of low-cost aviation, agrees that unnecessarily high fares are to blame for dwindling air passengers.

"I keep saying and will continue to say: Please fly the flight to full capacity by keeping the fare low instead of flying them empty with high rates," he said.

The numbers say it all. In June, only 36.94 lakh passengers took flights while the population of the country is 117 crore. And the passenger load factor (PLF) of airlines has never crossed 65 per cent.

Deep in debt

"In the given situation, we have to look at innovative methods to attract passengers, otherwise nobody will be able to save the aviation industry. And the government's bailout package will be of little help," said Captainu00a0 Gopinath.

Already, bad debts are dogging the industry. "The repayment history of airlines to airports and oil companies is very bad," said B R Sena, director, AAI. "If your debt burden is mounting, the interest will go up and you will be in a debt trap. This explains the present situation of the industry."

Cut out the frills

Some aviation experts like Devesh Agarwal feel that airlines could cut down on the cost of food and other frills on board the aircraft without compromising on quality.

"Serve good food, but why do you need a five-star caterer," asks a media analyser. "Provide facilities that are necessary and cut down on the fancy."

He felt food was not even required on short-haul flights. "Beverages are enough. If you don't carry food, it would reduce the load to that extent," he said.

Bitter dose
>>Stick to schedules
>>Welcome a regulator
>>Keep cost low, fly full
>>Repay debts in time
>>Cut out the frills

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