Air fares soar this Diwali; Europe travel cheaper than domestic routes

November 13, 2012
Airplane-Take-Off

New Delhi, November 13: Dynamic pricing of air fares has led to tickets selling at crunch times, such as on eve of big festivals, for prices at which you could fly to Europe, and back. Check this out. On Diwali eve (Monday), a one-way ticket for that evening's flight from Delhi to Lucknow, barely an hour's journey, was going over Rs 30,000. A Delhi-Bangalore ticket for Tuesday was between Rs 9,500 and Rs 42,500.

That's not all. On Sunday, an economy class ticket from Mumbai to Kolkata was in the range of Rs 35,000 to Rs 43,000, and business class tickets above Rs 60,000. Similarly, flying from Delhi to Ahmedabad in economy class of full service airlines on Diwali would cost from Rs 6,500 to Rs 38,600.

With the grounding of Kingfisher accounting for a 19% reduction in domestic flights, there is suddenly a huge demand-supply gap and airlines are making the most of it. Leave aside festival eves, flying in general has become 100% costlier, and in crunch times, it could be literally touch the sky.

'Air fares within price bands'

Air fares have shot up this Diwali season. "If people haven't booked well in advance and are planning a last-minute purchase, they will have to pay through their nose. Almost all seats are sold out for Diwali travel and the remaining ones are going for the highest fares," said Anil Kalsi, a leading travel agent and senior advisor of Society of Foreign Travel Operators (India chapter).

"There has to be a rationality to market dynamics. This is plain exploitation of people's compulsion," said Rini Mukherjee, a university teacher who now explores the rail travel option before being compelled to fly. This trend isn't new. When airfares were sky-rocketing, industry regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked airlines to give a band of ticket prices within which it would have to sell. The airlines gave bands ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. The DGCA accepted it. A senior aviation official told TOI: "Airfares are very high but they are within the price bands that airlines submit for each route to the DGCA. So far we have not come across any case of the price band being breached."

While the price bands have now become a legal shield for airlines to charge as much as they want, the purpose for introducing them has obviously been defeated as there is hardly any correlation between actual cost and price.

"Diwali is being celebrated late this year, in mid-November. This is anyway the peak travel season and India has fewer domestic flights this time (due to Kingfisher's grounding). The net impact is fares defying gravity," said Rajji Rai, who till recently headed the Travel Agents' Association of India. Agents say fares can be expected to fall only after the December holidays. The reason: This winter is witnessing 10,935 weekly domestic flights, 19% less than the 13,541 flights last winter.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: After an hour-long standoff between the security forces and the students on Monday, the police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesters near Holy Family hospital which is within walking distance of Jamia Millia Islamia.

A scuffle ensued when police confronted the protesters who tried to push forward towards Parliament. The lathi-charge was made to push back the protesters.

In the melee that ensued, many from both sides fainted.

Some security forces personnel resorted to the lathi-charge while others pushed back the protesters when they threw water pouches at the security forces and abused them.

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News Network
July 11,2020

Kanpur, Jul 11: "The Uttar Pradesh administration has done the right thing by taking action against my son," said an old and feeble Ram Kumar Dubey, father of gangster Vikas Dubey.

The father said his son killed eight police officials and it was an unforgivable sin.

"Had he listened to us, his life would not have ended this way. Vikas never helped us in any way. Due to him, even our ancestral property was razed to the ground. He also killed eight policemen, which is an unforgivable sin. The administration has done the right thing. Had they not done so, tomorrow others would have acted similarly," Ram Kumar said.

"It is the chief minister's duty to protect every individual. The police is an extension of that. He attacked them which cannot be forgiven. I will not even take part in his cremation," he added.

Ram Kumar Dubey said that his only appeal to the government is to allow him entry to his ancestral property now.

Vikas Dubey was cremated at Bhairav Ghat in Kanpur. His wife, younger son and brother-in-law were present and no other member of his family attended the last rites.

Vikas Dubey was arrested by the police in Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was on the run for the last six days and had come to the city to offer prayers at a temple, where he was identified by a security guard.

He was killed in an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Police earlier today after he "attempted to flee".

The gangster was the main accused in the encounter that took place in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest him.

Eight police personnel were killed in the encounter.

Vikas Dubey managed to escape after the incident. Uttar Pradesh police had launched a hunt and raised a bounty on him for Rs 5 lakh.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Jehanabad, Jan 27: The police here carried out a raid at the ancestral house of anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam, who has been slapped with a sedition case in the national capital for alleged inflammatory speeches he gave at Shaheen Bagh and the Jamia Milia Islamia, a senior official said on Monday.

According to Superintendent of Police, Jehanabad, Manish Kumar, Imams house in Kako police station area was raided late on Sunday night following "help sought by central agencies" which are investigating the cases lodged against the JNU research scholar.

Imam was not found at his house but two of his relatives and their driver were detained for interrogation and let off thereafter, the SP said.

A graduate in computer science from IIT-Mumbai, Sharjeel Imam had shifted to Delhi for pursuing research at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU.

He was slapped with a sedition case after his alleged speeches went viral on the social media wherein he was heard speaking about Assam's possible secession from the country in the wake of the Citienship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

Earlier, he had been booked on similar charges at a police station in Aligarh for a speech he delivered on the AMU campus.

Besides, a case under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA has been registered against him at Assam.

Imams late father Akbar Imam was a local JD(U) leader who had unsuccessfully contested an assembly election in his lifetime.

Reacting to the developments, his distraught mother Afshan Rahim told the media, "My son is innocent. He is a bright young man and not a thief or a pickpocket. I swear in the name of God that I do not know about his whereabouts. But I can guarantee that upon learning about the cases, he will appear before the investigating agencies and fully cooperate in the probe."

She said that it has been a long time since she met her son though she had a telephonic conversation with him a few weeks ago.

"He was obviously disturbed by the CAA and fears of the National Register of Citiznes (NRC) about being implemented across the country which, he said, would affect not just Muslims but all poor people," she said.

In fact, after 15 days of Shaheen Bagh protest, he had asked the agitators there to withdraw and watch the situation for a month, and then decide on the further course of action, she said. "But they refused to relent. He was calling for a 'chakkajam' (road blockade). He is just a kid and not capable of instigating people for secession," she added.

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