Curb exorbitant air fares, Vijayan urges PM Modi

Thiruvananthapuram, May 3

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is under treatment at the Mayo Clinic in US, on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent intervention to see that the "exorbitant" airfares in the domestic and international sector are reduced.

"I write this letter to invite your kind attention to the substantial hike in air fares in all domestic and international sectors which is adversely affecting a large number of our pravasis who travel to their home country in the vacation time, besides, tourists have also started visiting after the decline of incidence of Covid-19 pandemic.

"One of the major key sector affected by Covid-19 was the hospitality industry, including travel and tourism. Though this sector has been opened and has started functioning normally the new challenge which can be the reason for a setback to return to normalcy is the exorbitant air fares," he said.

Vijayan, in his letter, also gives the pre-Covid fares and the present fares which shows a massive hike.

From Cochin to Delhi, the fares jumped from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 and it went up from Rs 1,500 to Rs 4,800 from Thiruvananthapuram to Cochin.

Likewise in the international sector, it shot up more than a staggering 300 per cent from Rs 12,000 to Rs 40,000 to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and almost four times to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Rs 15,000 to Rs 58,000.

To London and New York, it doubled from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and from Rs 65,000 to Rs 1,30,000 respectively.