Bleeding airlines cut Goa flights16 Aug 2008, 0509 hrs IST, Gauree Malkarnekar,TNN http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Bleeding_airlines_cut_Goa_flights/art icleshow/3369928.cms <In view of the grim scenario, airlines have cut flights. "Airlines have themselves officially admitted that they are **reducing 25% of their flights,"**says Mohan Gera of MGM International. With the end of the tourist season in May, the number of planes landing at Dabolim airport has gone down considerably. According to Nilesh Shah of Raj Travels, most airline companies have cut flights. "Indian Airlines has cancelled its Bangalore flight and very often calls off its last flight of the day to Mumbai. Go Air has withdrawn its Hyderabad and Delhi flights and reduced the frequency of its Bangalore flights, while Indigo has cut down its Mumbai, Kolkata and Cochin flights," he said."Spice Jet, which was flying two planes to Mumbai and Delhi daily, has brought this down to one. Jet Lite has withdrawn its Ahmedabad operations and Air Deccan has cut down its Mumbai and Bangalore flights," Shah further informed. >
In Today's TOI the story titled "Slump in air travel is a phase" it says "Goa's Dabolim airport features among 4 of India's top 13 domestic airports including Bangalore, Chennai and Guwahati where domestic traffic has fallen by as much as 5 (five) per cent". So how to reconcile the two accounts? The apparently marginal 5% drop may have to be viewed along with previous growth rates of over 25%, resulting in a downward "swing" of a whopping 30%! That is nothing to sneeze at. The Goa government would do well to man action stations instead of complacently passing off the drop as a temporary phase.