‘Shocking...Get Facts Right...' - Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia BLASTS this Congress Leader on 'Rising Airfare' Remarks

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia lashed out at Congress organisation general secretary KC Venugopal over the latter’s remarks on the alleged rising airfare.

Scindia has termed the Congress MP’s remarks on the aviation sector as highly shocking, undiscerning, and ill-informed.

“As former Minister of State for Civil Aviation, it is highly shocking that @kcvenugopalmp Ji has made such undiscerning & ill-informed remarks on the aviation sector,” the union civil aviation minister wrote on his Twitter handle on Sunday.

Congress leader KC Venugopal has claimed that airfares for Delhi-Mumbai sector are crossing Rs 15,000 every day. He further stated that the PM Modi-led government's promise of making air travel affordable for the common man was nothing but a “cruel joke” on the people.

“PM Modi famously said that those wearing ‘Hawai Chappals’ can travel on a ‘Hawai Jahaaz.’ With Delhi-Mumbai flights crossing Rs. 15k+ everyday, his words sound like a cruel joke,” Venugopal had said.

Venugopal in a tweet fired six questions to the BJP-led central government to which Scindia, through his Twitter handle, replied in six points.

Venugopal alleged that ‘when the economy is in doldrums, it is criminal to lift the caps placed on airfare, like the government did in August 22’.

On this, Scindia hit back at the Congress leader and said, “No, India’s economy is in the pink of health. Even as the global economy continues to struggle, ours continues to stand as a beacon of hope with a growth rate of 6.0%–6.5% in FY 2023–24. That said, there is no reason that a deregulated sector like aviation should be put under government control - the repercussions of which have known to dent the growth potential of this sector in the past.”

On Venugopal's question, if the government has any strategy to address the dip in the number of flights being flown with Go First collapsing and SpiceJet barely flying any routes, the Civil Aviation Minister said, “A portion of the routes that were earlier being served by GoFirst have already been allotted to other airlines.”

“Also, you have chosen to turn a blind eye to the immense growth that this sector has witnessed since 2014. Passenger count which stood at 122 Million in 2014 is currently at 280 Million - a jump of 130%! Under UDAN, we have operationalised 475 routes and flown over 116.06 Lakh passengers,” Scindia added.

On the Congress leader’s question, if the government has any concrete intervention planned to check the rising airfares in cases of a high demand-supply mismatch, the union minister replied, “We have advised airlines to self-regulate their fares under a certain limit - the result of which is that prices have come down by 14%- 60% since 6th June 2023.”

“It is a rather tone-deaf assumption. The financial functioning of airports is a private matter of the operator,” said Scindia on Venugopal’s question “Are the profits earned by private airport operators, especially Adani with its mega investment in airports, coming out of the pockets of the common man?”

On Venugopal’s allegations on the inflated airfares from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata following the Balasore train tragedy in Odisha, the Minister clarified, “Again, I would like to update you that within 24 hours of the Odisha incident, an advisory was sent by MoCA to all airlines to monitor any abnormal surge in airfares to and from Bhubaneswar. In a separate high-level meet, airlines were advised to keep a tight check on the pricing of air tickets, especially in times of calamity.”

Further responding to the claims made by the Congress leader on the taxes on ATF fuel, the minister said, “I would like to inform you that the sector has made tremendous progress in this aspect. In 2021, we had only 12 States & UTs that were charging VAT on ATF between 0-5 per cent range, today 28 States & UTs are under this category, and 3 States & UTs under 20 per cent. It is mostly the non-BJP state governments who continue to charge VAT on ATF of more than 23per cent. This continues to stand as a hurdle for increased connectivity in the respective States.”

The Union Civil Aviation Minister also schooled the Congressman saying ‘get the facts right’ before coming up with any allegations.

“Lastly, it's important to note that a sector that was earlier ‘elitist’ has been truly democratised under the leadership of PM Sh @narendramodi Ji. We have doubled the number of airports, helipads, and water aerodromes from 74 to 148. Domestic daily pax traffic has broken all past records. Connectivity has finally begun to reach the last mile, and soon India will emerge as an international civil aviation hub. Let's get the facts right @kcvenugopalmp Ji!” Scindia concluded.