Vijayawada: Flight cancellation hits techies

Vijayawada: Following the cancellation of AirCosta flights from Vijayawada to Bengaluru, the tariff has been hiked almost four times to the running tariff and as a result, air passengers have been facing problems. Earlier, Air India used to operate flight service from Vijayawada to Bengaluru. Now only SpiceJet is operating it and the tariff has reached its peak. The lone operator from Vijayawada to Bengaluru, the SpiceJet’s tariffs seems to be very high ranging from Rs 9,000 to Rs 15,000 per ticket. The air passengers have brought the issue to the notice of the ministry of civil aviation. They placed a submission to the ministry to reintroduce Air India’s flight from Vijayawada to Bengaluru. In fact, there is huge passenger traffic to Bengaluru from Vijaya-wada city, following the setting up of new software companies in the capital region.

Under these circumstances, the increased tariff has been preventing passengers to opt either for train or bus journey. “Everyone may not afford the high tariff,” Yogendra Babu of Vijayawada city said. He is a frequent traveler from Vijayawada to Bengaluru by flight. Since AirCosta has stopped its services to Bengaluru from Vijayawada, now passengers are left with only choice of SpiceJet. This situation has affected the IT-related business, Vennamolu Sateesh, an IT professional told Deccan Chronicle. When contacted, Kavi Chowrasia of AirCosta marketing division, said that AirCosta’s operations have been suspended from Vijayawada to Bengaluru, till May 31.

While, overseas travellers have been demanding the starting of operation of short distance international flights, particularly to Middle East and South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Dubai and Singapore, the suspension of services within the country has affected the brand image of the AP capital, Ch. Vijayender Reddy, a businessman from Guntur said. Meanwhile, the legislators from Rayalaseema also expressed a similar opinion. “Earlier, we used to take our assistants with us in flights, but following the increase in tariff, we are asking them to come either by road or by train,” a TD legislator from Rayalaseema said. He said that he has brought the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister, and asked him to intervene.