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Air-India fares up five percent from April 16 >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Mar 25 (IANS) Air-India will hike its fares five percent from April 16 and also levy a war surcharge. Announcing this Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said: "Passengers will also have to pay $10 per coupon based on the decision of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) but insurance companies have waived a further hefty raise in war-risk premiums." International airlines had decided to impose a $10 war insurance and fuel surcharge per coupon - denoting a section of a journey - on every ticket from April 1. After the fare hike, a Delhi-London ticket will cost Rs 34,000 instead of Rs 32,200, a Delhi-New York trip will cost Rs 49,500 as compared to Rs 47,000 and the cost of a Delhi-Singapore flight will increase from Rs 20,500 to Rs 21,900. The cost of a ticket on the Mumbai-Kuwait sector will increase from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. The government approved Air-India's proposal to impose the surcharge close on the heels of a 15 percent hike by domestic operators Indian Airline and Jet Airways. Both Air-India and Indian Airlines said they are looking to the government to take a decision on offsetting the overall impact of the Iraq war. "The government has to look at the entire war liability," an Air-India spokesperson told IANS. If the war prolongs, then Air-India is staring at a monthly loss of Rs.750 million and Indian Airlines Rs.400 million. Air-India hopes to end this financial year on a slim profit, but it is expected to suffer a Rs. 1 billion loss in revenue. "But April and May will be disastrous for us, and the government has to take steps to reduce the impact," the spokesperson said, adding that the airlines had already taken cost-cutting measures. The aviation sector faced its worst crisis after 9/11 with international airlines losing about $30 billion amid job cuts and shutdowns. The Iraq war adds to the burden with an expected $10 billion in losses. Since the U.S. invaded Iraq on March 20, airlines have been forced to cancel flights or reroute them to avoid the war zone. Air-India operates eight flights to Dammam, six to Bahrain and seven to Kuwait each week. The Indian government fears that the impact of a prolonged war would be worse than that of 9/11. The tourism sector has also been badly hit, with 30 percent of tourists from the West cancelling their trips to India. The increase in the price of aviation turbine fuel has also hit the sector badly, especially since flights would have to take circuitous diversions to avoid the war-affected airspace where all civilian air operations would cease. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
