Air fares for hilly regions soar, hit tourism

At a recent meeting of minister of state (MoS) for aviation and tourism Mahesh Sharma with members of parliament (MPs) from hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh (HP), Uttarakhand and Jammu Kashmir (J&K), there was much noise about high fares adversely impacting tourist inflow by air.

And as the voices of concern got louder, slowly the reason for it too emerged – inadequate infrastructure at these airports.

A source in the know of what transpired at the minister's meeting said there was a demand for setting a ceiling on fares that could be charges on these sectors.

In the context of the government looking to pump in Rs 120 crore for the development of the Himalayan Circuit – including HP, J&K and Uttarakhand – to boost tourism, this demand of fare regulation seemed valid.

However, some MPs were of the view that capping of fares could only make operating flights to the Himalayan states unattractive and lead to withdrawal of the few existing services by airlines. Instead, they suggested upgradation of facilities at airports to help airlines improve utility and efficiency of their aircraft, which in turn would push down fares.

According to the source, Anurag Singh Thakur, MP of Hamirpur, argued in favour of improving airport infrastructure to tackle the issue of sky-rocketing fares to these destinations.

He said expansion and modernisation of runway, setting up refuelling facility, installation of interactive voice response (IVR) instrument and other such infrastructure upgradation would help in pulling down fares down at Shimla, Bhunther and Kangra airports in his state.

An airline executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alluded to fares remaining aloft on hilly sectors because of underdeveloped infrastructure.

For instance, with no refuelling facility at these airports, airlines have to tank up for return or onward flights. This increased fuel load and reduced passenger headcount, pushing up fares.

Experts peg the average fares for flights to these hill stations between Rs 4,500 and Rs 15,000 per passenger.

Short runways, absence of IVR instrument and other such inadequacies at the hilly region airports made it impossible even for a narrow-body-single-aisle aircraft like Airbus's A320 and Boeing's B737-800 to land there.

"We cannot carry more than 40-50 passengers on a single flight. With such a low passenger load, the cost of the flight can be recovered only through high fares," said an airline executive, who did not want to be named.

One source said one of the reasons many ministers were not interested in improving airports in these states was because they were running thriving transport business with maximum buses deployed in these states.

"Many of the ministers are operating (bus) transport business and therefore were not interested in doing anything to improve rail or aviation infrastructure as that will directly hit their business," he said.

The other points discussed at Sharma's meeting were enhancing India's share in the global tourism to 1% from the current 0.64%, organising light and sound shows at cultural and heritage sites, launching of Himalayan Darshan programme to connect the Himalayan region to offer an aerial view of it and many other such plans.

Mehbooba Mufti, MP from Anantnag, who also participated in the meeting said J&K's economy could be turned around through tourism.

She said boosting tourism would help her state to generate income and employment for the local people and also demanded for convention halls to be set up in Gulmarg and Patnitop. Mufti also sought help from the Centre for reconstruction of infrastructure and restoration of damaged heritage sites in the recent floods.

The MPs from HP emphasised the development of village tourism through promotion of home stays. They said sports, adventure and religion could be looked at for developing tourism in the state.

MPs from Uttarakhand requested for a monorail to Haridwar and Rishikesh to address the growing menace of traffic on roads to these areas. They also sought development of more airports like Uttarkashi.