NEW DELHI: Soaring aviation turbine fuel prices have led to a 400% increase in Indian airlines’ operating cost in recent months. And had the government not recently raised domestic fare bands by 12.5% some months back, there “won’t have been any airline left for us to board”, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said at the Times Now Summit 2021 on Thursday.
“We are seeing tremendous amount of green shoots. The last weekend saw a high of 3.8 lakh passengers daily, with the pre-Covid high being 4.2 lakh. So we are only 10% below the pre-Covid high. Almost 90% of (domestic) traffic has recovered. But it is important to be cautious,” he said.
He said Air India will be transferred to its new owner, the Tata Group, by the third week of January 2022. The country will next year also see a startup, Akasa, take to the skies along with a reborn Jet Airways. TOI had last week reported that January 23 is the “long stop date” by which Tatas have to take over the airline.