Thursday, October 10, 2013

Port Blair air travel expensive

By S. Sujatha 

If there is one air route in India that helps airlines make a lot of money, it has to be the trip to Port Blair from the mainland.
The airfare for the two-hour trip from Chennai to Port Blair has suddenly shot up to Rs 19,000-Rs 24,000 bracket one way. A few tickets are also priced at Rs 30,590 one way non­-­stop from Che­n­nai to Port Blair.

“For this money, we could have travelled to Singapore or made a full round trip from Chennai to Mumbai to Delhi and back,” said an air passenger. According to Andaman-n­a­t­ive Naga Jothi, who is now settled in Ch­ennai.

“Even though the regular fare to An­da­man is only around Rs 6,000 one way, I was re­­­ady to pay till Rs 10,000 due to festival se­ason. But Rs 20,000 is way above my budget,” she added.
Similarly, Radha Ramesh, another And­aman native married in Chennai, said, “Earlier, we used to travel by sea, but now, especially after two children, I prefer to go by air. But this exorbitant airfare is dissuading me to visit my mother’s home,” she added.

A senior official in Air In­dia said the de­m­and was more in Oc­tober due to puja festival and so not many are able to travel in discounted fares.  
When contacted, a senior official in the civil aviation ministry told Deccan Chronicle that since Andaman sector didn’t have enough cap­acity, the airfare was inflated.

“We are able to understand the pr­o­blem of  passengers. We will talk to DGCA and try to push down the pr­ic­es,” the official added.

1 comment:

  1. Nice experience. Good one. It is also famous for its nearby attractions like Barren Islands, Corbyn’s Cove and Ross Island. Port Blair has an interesting mix of the Nicobarese, Bengalis, Tamils, Telugus and Burmese people. Some parts of the town and nearby islands have been closed-off to tourists in order to conserve the local tribal population. Explore Port Blair tourism also.

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