DGCA looking at airlines' demand for charging petty services

"We have received applications from various airlines. We are looking at it," Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra told reporters on the sidelines of the 'MRO India 2013' Expo here.

Airlines had recently requested the regulator to allow them to charge a fee on the passenger who chooses a particular seat while booking, which is currently not allowed here but done in some foreign countries.

They are also looking at charging for duplicate ticket print-outs and other services like providing pillows, blankets and cotton balls, entertainment gadgets, baggage fees, charges for reservation changes, among others.

With airlines being forced not to hike their ticket prices beyond a certain threshold in their bid to be competitive, the carriers are increasingly looking at other means to shore up the revenue and minimise costs.

Domestic carriers, which together reported a loss of around Rs 14,000 crore last fiscal, non-ticket revenue or ancilliary revenue currently stands at a meager 3 per cent of their total revenue.

However, now they are targeting to increase it by at least 5 per cent by charging various on-board and ground services apart from charging for on-board sale of food, drinks by full-service carriers. (More)