Airfares to Kashmir more expensive than trip to Dubai

Srinagar, Dec 31: Astonishingly, travelling from Delhi to Dubai is much cheaper than travelling from the national capital to Srinagar as airfares to Kashmir have skyrocketed.A cursory look at the airfares for Delhi to Dubai on December 31 showed tickets hovering around Rs 10,000 to 13,000 per passenger, while air tickets from Delhi to Srinagar airport cost Rs 21,623 on the same date.Similarly, airfares from Mumbai to Srinagar were listed at Rs 21,843, and from Bangalore, they exceed Rs 20,000.The rise in airfares is attributed to two main factors: the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway for the last two days due to New Year’s Eve celebrations, which have increased the number of tourists visiting Kashmir.The expensive airfares are severely impacting patients, students, and tourists who have to travel between Srinagar and Delhi.A senior civil aviation official said, “Due to high demand and limited supply, airfares from Delhi to Srinagar and Mumbai to Srinagar have seen a significant increase.”Bashir Ahmad, a travel agent said, “The government should take harsh action against individuals responsible for exorbitantly rising airfares, which are shooing away tourists and causing problems for the local populace. A mechanism to cap airfares must be put in place to prevent issues for everyone. Not only do tourists fly, but students, patients, and businesspeople make up the majority of those leaving Srinagar and bearing the brunt of this arbitrary price increase.”Irshad Ahmad, a Srinagar resident, shared his ordeal, “I paid Rs 21,000 per passenger airfare from Delhi to Srinagar. We were 10 family members and my total cost of air tickets was Rs 2.10 lakh because we travelled to Delhi for my father’s critical surgery and had our children with us as there was nobody here to look after them.”A parliamentary panel has highlighted that escalating fares during the peak season are a major deterrent to increasing tourist footfall in Kashmir.In its report, the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture said, “Exorbitant price of air tickets is a major dampener. Escalating airfares of ‘low cost’ carriers during the peak season is a major deterrent to increasing footfall in the region. The airfares are equivalent to that of nearby foreign destinations and given the sensitivity of the region, tourists would prefer to visit nearby foreign destinations at the same airfare rather than visit J&K.”In response to these observations, the Ministry of Tourism has engaged with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).However, the MoCA has informed us that, at present, airfares are not controlled by the government, leaving the issue of high airfares unresolved for the moment.