Air India caps fares of Delhi-Srinagar flights over security concerns

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New Delhi: Air India spokesperson on Sunday confirmed that the airline has capped fares of all its flights from Delhi to Srinagar and vice versa till August 15. The revision in fares comes in the wake of security concerns. The advisory was issued on Friday directing tourists and Amarnath yatris to leave the Valley immediately.

Dhananjay Kumar said to the news agency ANI that Air India flights from Srinagar to New Delhi will cost Rs. 6,715 and flights from New Delhi to Srinagar will cost Rs. 6,899.

The airlines received the advisory from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to rein in surging airfares for pilgrims returning from Amarnath Yatra.

Airfares for flights from Srinagar over the weekend shot up to abnormally high levels following the security advisory for tourists and pilgrims.

For a one-way direct flight from Srinagar to Delhi, even low-cost airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and AirAsia charged between Rs 10,000 to Rs 22,000, according to travel portals, as against around Rs 3,000.

Similarly, from Srinagar to Jammu, flight rates on Saturday were Rs 16,000. Other places like Amritsar, Chandigarh, and Jaipur also witnessed a jump in airfares ranging between Rs 10,000 to Rs 19,000.

Web portals of several airlines with flights from Srinagar on Saturday and Sunday showed that virtually all seats were sold out.

The advisory to Amarnath yatris was issued after it was announced in a joint press conference of the Army and police forces in Srinagar that weapons and ammunition were recovered in the Amarnath Yatra route.

They also said terrorists from Pakistan were planning to launch an attack on Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, based on credible inputs.

In view of the additional rush of passengers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on Friday asked Indian airlines to be prepared to operate extra flights to and from Srinagar to fly out Amarnath Yatris and tourists from the Valley.

Soon after DGCA's directions, airlines made announcements to give a full fee waiver on rescheduling/cancellation for all its flights to/from Srinagar.

With inputs from ANI

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