Airfares to hit the sky from Nov 1

New Delhi, Nov 1: From Saturday, Nov 1, there will be transaction fee to pay for if you are travelling in air. The transaction fee would be a minimum of Rs 350 for domestic and a maximum of Rs 10,000 for international passengers.

The zero-percent commission regime will be replaced by the transaction fee, which will be levied along with the airfare, said an official of an airline here, adding that this will be denoted as 'other charges' on the ticket. When asked, an Air India spokesperson in New Delhi confirmed that the new transaction fee will come in place from Nov 1.

Airlines in India have raised airfares at least six times this year.

The extra fee on international air tickets will be Rs 1,200-Rs 2,400 (economy), Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000 (business) and Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 (for first class tickets). Even low-cost airline passengers have to bear the brunt. Presently, air travellers are not charged any transaction or booking fee. Airlines pay 5 percent of the base fare as commission to travel agents.

But with airlines incurring losses since the first quarter this year, many international and domestic carriers have decided to write off commissions for travel agents, which is being resisted.

OneIndia News