In a major relief to passengers, airlines will be mandated to steeply reduce fees for carrying five-kg extra baggage on flights.
The Civil Aviation Ministry will ask the airlines to charge Rs.100 on each additional kg baggage against an average of Rs. 300 a kg charged at present, a senior official of the Ministry said. However, the reduced fares will be applicable for five-kg extra luggage.
At present, domestic airlines, except national carrier Air India, allow passengers to carry 15 kg luggage free of cost. Air India allows passengers to check in with 25-kg bags without any cost.
IndiGo, GoAir, AirAsia India and Air India charge passengers Rs. 250 for carrying each kg extra baggage. SpiceJet charges Rs. 300 a kg for additional luggage, Jet Airways Rs. 350 a kg and Vistara Rs. 320 a kg for economy class and Rs.330 for premium economy.
With the latest move, a passenger may carry five-kg additional luggage by paying Rs. 500 to the airlines instead of shelling out Rs.1,250-Rs.1,750.
“It’s an excellent move. There are many instances when passengers are unable to weigh the luggage when he or she is in a hurry and the free baggage limit may exceed marginally. So, passengers can arrive at the airport with a few additional kg of luggage and pay a reasonable amount,” said D. Sudhakara Reddy, national president of the Air Passengers Association of India.
Revenues may be hit
The move, however, is expected to hit the ancillary revenues earned by the airlines through the sale of services such as baggage fees, sale of onboard retail, extra leg room and frequent flyer miles sale.
“Free check-in baggage allowance should be removed. Baggage fee should be completely deregulated and left to market forces. Some airlines will charge and some may bundle it with the fare and passengers will choose based on their preferences,” said Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG.
Mr. Dubey said most airlines abroad charged passengers for every check-in luggage. In India, around 5-10 per cent of the airline’s revenue came from ancillaries.
The Ministry plans to announce the move, along with a slew of other passenger-centric initiatives, on Saturday, officials said. In another move, the airlines will not be allowed to charge cancellation fees more than the basic fare of a ticket.
“The cancellation charges will not be higher than the basic fare,” the official said. “We have recently witnessed that while the number of cancellations has come down, the charges have gone up. We feel that the taxes levied on a ticket should be refunded to the passenger in an unperformed journey,” Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told The Hindu.
The official said passengers now got a minimal refund for cancelling flight tickets.
For instance, a Delhi-Chennai flight booked through a travel portal on June 25 costs Rs 3,993 and the cancellation fee comes to Rs. 3,550, including the airline’s cancellation charge and travel portal’s cancellation fee.