Airline News: The number of air passengers is continuously increasing. However, the number of international passengers is not increasing as much as domestic passengers have increased. But in view of the increasing number of passengers, DGCA has taken an important decision. Let us know the latest decision of DGCA…
New Delhi: There has been a rapid increase in the number of passengers traveling by air in the country. At present, if we look at domestic air travel, India has become the third aviation market in the world. In such a situation, the government has taken a big decision in the interest of air passengers. Now, forced meal charges will not be included in plane tickets. Not only this, if there is a child up to 12 years of age in a group, then preferred seat charge will not be charged for giving him a seat with the family.
What has been the decision?
According to the information received from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of the Central Government, now changes have been made in the Air Transport Circular. Along with this, the services and fees of scheduled airlines have also been unbundled. Meaning that No airline will be able to charge passengers for meals, snacks, drinks etc. This means that if you are traveling with a full service carrier like Vistara or Air India, you may not be able to pay meal or snack charges if you wish. Budget airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet already have such arrangements.
Charge for child seat!
The revised DGCA circular also states that airlines cannot charge any preferred seat charge for sharing seats from children traveling with their parent or guardian. Now children aged 12 years and below will have to be allotted a seat next to their parent or guardian without charging any fee. Earlier it was seen that airlines used to charge some fee for allotting companion seats to children traveling with a parent or guardian.
Number of passengers has increased two and a half times in 10 years
There has been tremendous expansion of air service in the country during the last 10 years. In 2014, when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the total number of domestic passengers in the country was around 60 million. Now it has increased to about 143 million. Similarly, the number of international passengers has also increased, but not so fast. In the year 2024, the number of international passengers was 43 million, which has now increased to 64 million.
Number of aircraft also increased by 80 percent
Bharatiya Janata Party MP GVL Narasimha Rao had recently said that the number of aircraft has increased by 80 percent in the last 10 years. 10 years ago there were a total of 400 aircraft in the country. Now this number has increased to 723. Similarly, the number of airports has also increased from 74 to 150.
