NEW DELHI, March 18 ? The Indian Airlines and Alliance Air have revised air fares in the Northeast sectors ranging between 10 to 15 per cent with effect from February 15, Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain said this here today. The hike in air fare in the region came close on the heels of the Union Finance Ministry formally issuing a notification (No 2/2002) waiving off Inland Air Travel Tax in all routes to and from and within the Northeastern States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The Minister, however, refused to estimate the loss likely to be incurred to the exchequer as it would depend upon the capacity deployed on the routes by the airlines and the number of passengers, which keep on changing.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Minister argued that in spite of an hike in airfare in the region, fares in Northeast are 12.5 per cent lower than fares in comparable sectors elsewhere in the country. The Minister said the cost of operation in the Northeast sector was higher than rest of the country on account of short haul sector operations, frequent landings leading to high expenses on landing and navigational charges, operational limitations such as absence of night landing facilities, besides absence of subsidy from the government to compensate the losses. The Minister in a separate written reply disclosed that category-II routes covering Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Northeast are generally considered to be non-profitable. He also added that the Centre has so far not taken any decision regarding compensating the domestic carriers for flying on economically unviable social routes.
Meanwhile, Hussain said the Assam Rifles Traning Centre (AFTC) near Dimapur Airport would be vacated by end of July. The 18.15 acres of land would be used by the Airport Authority of India for installation of Instrument Landing System felicitating night landing facilities.