BOMBAY: Another stiff hike in the fares of the Indian Airlines tickets is in the offing following the Union Governments move to insist that the airlines pay the full fuel bill.
The airlines are expected to pay about Rs 12000 per kiloliter compared to Rs 6000 for the same quantity last June. The devaluation and further hike of the aviation tribune fuel have doubled the cost since then.
With this the airlines will have to pay an additional Rs 85 crore in order to meet the hike the airlines had already hiked the fares by about 15% but that would fetch them only Rs 30 crore.
The airlines has been trying to impress the Union Finance Ministry to give some relief this year so that some sort of a turn-around could be affected But indications are that the Finance Ministry will not relent according to informed sources here.
They feel anyone who can afford to pay for air lines tickets can spend a few hundred rupees more. Their logic seems to be based on a long held belief that 90% of the air travelling public in India pay through their corporate accounts.
The other belief is that the airlines are not a transport for the masses but for the classes the sources said. Thus to raise additional Rs 55 crore from the classes will go without a murmur is a foregone conclusion the insiders point out.
Going by the amount to be raised the percentage sought to be hiked will be in the vicinity of 25% the sources said. Thus over all a hike of about 40% will be affected.
The hike will be another step backwards in the ongoing saga of the IA to break into the black The climb-back seems remote. This because in the year 1991-92 the airlines declared losses of about Rs 200 crore This was mainly due to the devaluation of the rupee which substantially increase debt
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1992
