Airfares on routes connecting Mumbai airport have nearly doubled after the government ordered cancellation of 200 weekly flights to ease congestion and delays. Hardest hit is the Mumbai-Kannur route where fares have surged 193% amid halving of flights.
IndiGo has faced maximum cancellations – 110 flights axed across 9 routes. In all, flights from Mumbai to 12 cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad have faced cuts. Two small destinations have also lost connectivity.
The flight reductions from Feb 15 were triggered after the Aviation Ministry blamed Mumbai airport operator MIAL for not addressing the infrastructure constraints and flight delays of even 60 minutes. MIAL has simply distributed excessive slots without margins, it alleged.
With the number of flights lowered to 6217 per week from 6417 earlier at Mumbai airport, reduced seat availability has led fares to spike within days on multiple routes in the short term.
The Mumbai-Darbhanga route has seen fares rise 31% along with halving of flights to just 6 per week now. 3 Tata group airlines alone have axed 90 flights in total across Vistara, Air India and AIX Connect.
The Ministry said while the airport is saturated, neither MIAL nor airlines took steps for staggered slots and eliminating non-essential peak hour flights. Thus safety, efficiency and passenger woes necessitated regulatory intervention.
