Air Passengers Assn objects to airlines 'cartel'

Chennai, Oct 20: Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) will take up with the Civil Aviation Ministry and the MRTP Commission the alleged cartelization of the airline sector with the formation of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA).

Demanding constitution of an Aviation Regulatory Authority (ARA) on the lines of TRAI, APAI President D Sudhakara Reddy and Executive Director R Vijay Bobby said FIA's main aim seemed to form a cartel to rig air fares, rather than concentrate on passenger's welfare.

'This is against the interests of air passengers and will create a monopoly situation', Mr Reddy told reporters here and claimed that the fears of cartelization had already begun with the levy of uniform fuel surcharge of Rs 750, irrespective of distance covered.

Though APAI was not against formation of the FIA (which had full service airliners and low cost carriers as members), the levy of fixed fuel surcharge by all airline operators, despite recent drop in prices of Air Turbine Fuel, was against the interests of passengers.

The fuel surcharge had gone up from Rs 100 to Rs 750 in a short span of six months and there was no response from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry despite several letters written to them by the APAI, he said and pointed out reduced surcharge charged by international carriers like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

In this context, Mr Reddy suggested formation of ARA to fix rates and control airlines on levy of fuel surcharge on passengers.

The APAI wanted the Civil Aviation Ministry to become a signatory to the Montreal Convention with respect to the rights of air passengers. India at present goes by the Carriage by Air Act, 1972. The Montreal Convention replaced the Compensation by Weight system with the more progressive Compensation, Passenger system. 'The new system replaces the current liability limit of 20 US dollar (Rs 900 per kg) in case of delay, damage or loss of baggage, with a per passenger limit of 1000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

Stating that one SDR was equivalent to Rs 70 under the currency conversion measure used by the IMF, Mr Reddy said this meant an airline company would be liable to pay upto Rs 70,000 per passenger for lost, damaged or delayed baggages.

Mr Reddy said low cost carrier Air Deccan had agreed to provide drinking water free to passengers and assign seat numbers at least for elderly passengers. An assurance to this effect was given by Air Deccan MD Capt Gopinath during a meeting with Mr Reddy recently.

Stating that at least 16 of Indian's 56 aircraft were grounded in various places for want of spares, the APAI said this led to frequent disruption of flights and wanted a quick remedy for this problem.

UNI