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Post Info TOPIC: IA, Jet, Deccan to slap congestion surcharge
karatecatman


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IA, Jet, Deccan to slap congestion surcharge
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 http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=147761
  
FRONT PAGE 
 
IA, Jet, Deccan to slap congestion surcharge 
 
Airlines to charge Rs 150-Rs 200 more even as every minute of wasteful flying costs an airline Rs 2,000
 
ATREYEE DEV ROY
Posted online: Friday, December 01, 2006 at 0144 hours IST 

NEW DELHI, NOV 30:  Following the lead of Kingfisher Airlines, other air carriers including legacy and low-fare carriers, are planning to introduce a congestion surcharge of Rs 150- Rs 200 in addition to the existing Rs 750 fuel surcharge. The move will see a rise in fares, and will pinch the wallet, especially in short-haul sectors.
A senior executive of Indian Airlines said, “Yes, we are also going to do it (impose a congestion surcharge) soon.


In fact, we are trying to introduce it from tomorrow itself.” Jet Airways has also decided to levy the surcharge. Air Sahara is also likely to take a call when Alok Sharma, president, returns from Male (Maldives) on December 1. Indigo Airlines has decided to levy the surcharge too.


Low-cost Air Deccan is also seriously considering it, especially for its Airbus operations. “Earlier congestion was limited to Delhi and Mumbai airports, now there are huge delays in Bangalore airport as well. Repercussions can be felt across the sector. And if an aircraft gets delayed in Delhi, it subsequently falls behind for the rest of its flight schedule,” Air Deccan managing director GR Gopinath said.


The average hovering time for an aircraft in Delhi and Mumbai is around half an hour and for every extra minute spent in air an airline loses around Rs 2,000 in terms of fuel burnt. The airline industry in the country is expected to earn about $300 million in the current financial year.


Other low cost carriers, SpiceJet, and GoAir too are expected to take a stand soon. According to sources, SpiceJet would not immediately implement a surcharge but would first like to see the consumer response to the surcharge.
 
 



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malik


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This has all the signs of a cartel forming again, though such a move is simply not sustainable across so many airlines unless it has regulatory backing. Fuel prices are down but there is no reduction of fuel surcharges.


A quick survey of various websites showed that SpiceJet and Indigo have also levied these congestion charges. Will we soon have "negative" priced tickets, once the winter load reduces?



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ArtofZen


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Air passengers fume at new surcharge

The Rs 150 air traffic congestion surcharge being levied by some airlines to upset the losses incurred on fuel burn while circling over airports has evoked sharp criticism from air passengers.
Terming this as ridiculous, the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) is exploring possibility to challenge the decision by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

Speaking to HT, APAI president Sudhakar Reddy said, "How are the passengers responsible for the congestion and why should they be penalised for no fault of theirs? After the formation of the Federation of Indian Airlines, we had doubts on their motives and the new surcharge has now confirmed it. It is a result of cartelisation. I will be consulting my lawyer whether this makes a fit case for a PIL."

However, airlines have justified the new surcharge. Air Deccan Finance Director Mohan Kumar said, "We are still debating on the surcharge and will take a decision in two days. The surcharge is justified, as airlines can't continue to bleed for no fault of theirs.

What do we do which is not under our control? By levying the surcharge airlines are telling the truth that something need to be done to improve infrastructure."

While asking airlines to reconsider their decision APAI has blamed the Union Civil Aviation ministry (read Praful Patel) for the congestion. "Licences should not have been issued to so many players without improving airport infrastructure. This is the outcome of the mindless act and now passengers are being taken for granted," Reddy added.

Even as the debate goes on, airlines said that every minute of waiting on air costs an A-320 aircraft Rs 2,000 on fuel burn and passengers to avail the facility need to pay for it.

If passengers are unhappy they should pressurise the government to immediately improve airport infrastructure. But air passengers feel that since airlines will not share their profits with them, the losses should be solely borne by the airlines themselves.


Link Here

-- Edited by ArtofZen at 01:51, 2006-12-02

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karatecatman


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TAFI, Travel agents decry congestion surcharge levied by airlines
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www.uniindia.com.


TAFI, Travel agents decry congestion surcharge levied by airlines


New Delhi, Dec 1 (UNI)


The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has criticised the decision of the domestic airlines to levy a ‘‘congestion charge’’.


 ‘‘This decision is inexplicable in view of the fact that the same airlines seem to be engaged in a fierce advertising war to publicise the lowest fares,’’ Praveen Chugh, president of TAFI said in a release here today.


 He said it was deplorable that the airlines continued to mislead the public by advertising ostensibly low fares while leaving out the surcharges, which were substantial, and which every passenger would have to pay at the time of ticketing.


 ‘‘TAFI firmly believes that all surcharges -- fuel, insurance, congestion etc -- which are not legitimate government taxes, form an inalienable part of operating costs and must necessarily be included in the published fare advertised by airlines,’’ he said. PTI SOM ACB 12012313 DEL



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karatecatman


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RE: IA, Jet, Deccan to slap congestion surcharge
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http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1067270
One minute landing delay = Rs 2,500 loss


Praveena Sharma
Friday, December 01, 2006  23:57 IST


Airlines lose Rs 135 cr a month just because India is not equipped for the air traffic boom
 
BANGALORE: Every minute an aircraft hovers over an airport, waiting in an air-queue to land, the airline it belongs to loses Rs 2,500.
 
That is if the aircraft is a Boeing or an Airbus. If it’s an ATR, the cost is about Rs 750 a minute.
 
The collective fleet of various Indian carriers today stands at 1,200 aircraft.
 
Half of them have to circle above airports for an average 30 minutes every day.
 
That is a loss of Rs 135 crore per month for the airline industry - for no fault of theirs.
 
The daily losses on account of airport jams are, by conservative estimates, pegged around Rs 5 crore.
 
But it is not just higher jet fuel costs that have hit the airlines.
 
Air clogs also bulk up personnel costs because airlines shell out overtime money to pilots and cabin crew.
 
It also squeezes their cargo revenues. This is because airlines are forced to carry more fuel - about 30 to 40% more since.  This, in turn, increases the weight of aircraft, which automatically limits the cargo that an aircraft can carry.
 
“We usually fill five tonnes of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), but due to congestion, we now fill around 7-7.5 tonne of fuel. Due to this increased load, the engine uses more fuel. This also forces us to reduce the cargo onboard,” informs a SpiceJet Ltd executive.
 
An Air Deccan spokeswoman complained the congestion also led to lower levels of aircraft utilisation.
 
And such operational inefficiencies were indirectly impacting the bottomline of the airline operators.
 
With so much at stake, even the biggest price warrior Air Deccan, which usually shies away from any sort of price hike, is considering to levy a congestion surcharge (around Rs 150 per passenger) on the passenger, along other players such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, Air Sahara, Indian Airlines and Go Air. 
 
“We are looking at imposing it. When and how has not yet been decided. Just today, our Bangalore-Delhi flight was hovering for around 55 minutes near the airport. The additional cost that we are incurring due to congestion is hurting bad  We have to recover this cost or else it will adversely impact profits,” says Air Deccan managing director G R Gopinath.
 
Analysts are viewing the levy as pricing action, which was long overdue.
 
“That even the low-cost carriers are mandating the levy shows that losses due to congestion must have hit them very hard,” says an analyst.
 
A Mumbai-based analyst with a foreign brokerage said the total surcharge of Rs 900 (including Rs 750 for fuel and Rs 150 for congestion) has ensured that the airlines earn Re 1 per kilometre irrespective of what promotional fares they offer.
 
“This way, they have indirectly fixed a floor price for all airlines. This is expected prop up their bottomline to some extent and improve the health of the aviation industry a touch.”
 
The bad news is, congestion and delays will remain of epidemic proportions in the foreseeable future, if passenger traffic - and by therefore, flight traffic - is anything to go by.
 
Taka a look at the statistics: Last year, 16.2 million people flew from and into the New Delhi airport. This year, 20 million already had by October.
 
Passenger growth at airports are rising at around 20% a year. Meaning, the number of passengers flying in or out doubles in less than four years.
 
And in under four years, the new New Delhi airport will be ready (by late 2010). It will have a capacity to handle 37 million passengers per annum.
 
Considering the current growth rate, the new airport will be stretched at the seams at take off point itself.



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karatecatman


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Don't impose traffic surcharge: Govt to airlines
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http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=18252

 Don't impose traffic surcharge: Govt to airlines
Press Trust of India / New Delhi December 05, 2006
 
 
 
The government today asked all domestic airlines not to impose the Rs 150 surcharge being levied for traffic congestion in airports.


"I do not accept this position. I will, in fact, ask all airlines not to impose this surcharge," union civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on the sidelines of a conference by International Air Transport Association (IATA) here.


Major domestic airlines such as Kingfisher, Jet and Air Sahara had last week decided to impose a congestion surcharge of Rs 150 per ticket, with effect from December 1.


Patel said if the airlines wanted they could raise fares and the government would not interfere.


"If they want to raise fares they can do it because govt does not interfere in fixation of fares," he said.


Patel said congestion was not there in all airports, but only in Delhi and Mumbai. "I will advise (state-run carrier) Indian that it should not be a part of this move. We can't mandate them but this is an advise," he said.


Patel also said he would call a meeting of all airlines soon to discuss the issue.


 
 
 
 



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malik


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RE: IA, Jet, Deccan to slap congestion surcharge
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I already paid this on a SpiceJet flight yesterday, and don't think I will get a refund. Looking and booking forward, I see that Jet Airways and Indigo are still applying this congestion surcharge.


I fear the days when we shall have to pay by weight as well as number of visits to the toilet are not too far away either.



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