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| Kathmandu, Thursday March 27, 2003 Chaitra 13, 2059. |
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New petro
prices fuel transport fares
Domestic air fares hiked by Rs 350
By Satyendra
Timilsina
KATHMANDU, March 26 :
Domestic airlines operators have unilaterally decided to impose "fuel-surcharge"
of Rs 350 per passenger on the existing airfare to compensate the increase in aviation
fuel price from today.
A meeting of the
Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) today took the decision and also agreed to
demand the permission from the government to collect it. The decision would come into
effect only after the government’s approval.
"After analysing
the cost of increased fuel price, all the operators unanimously decided to request the
government to enforce the fuel surcharge," said Bikash Samsher JB Rana, president of
the AOAN.
"Airlines
operators are already in a difficult financial position and the aviation industry cannot
sustain without the price adjustments," he added.
The government had
decided to increase the price of aviation fuel, along with the price of other petroleum
products, by 19 per cent, raising the price from Rs 28.8 to Rs 34.
According to the
operators, the cost of aviation fuel amount to almost 35 per cent of the total cost of
operation. As such, they claim, the domestic airlines’ cost would increase by Rs 318
to Rs 350, depending upon the efficiency of the aircraft.
Despite the unilateral
decision by the airlines operators, the Civil Aviation Regulations bar them from
implementing the decision. According to the CAAN regulations, the operators are allowed to
fix the airfare, 10 per cent above or below the set fares. But most of the airlines are
already flying at the maximum airfares.
The airlines, operating
in hub routes (flights to remote areas) are flying with optimum airfare limit, and thus
they cannot revise the airfare on their own. Only the Airline operators operating in trunk
routes (from Kathmandu to major cities) can increase the fare up to Rs 200.
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