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CUTTING through Delhi's infamous haze, fliers sense a clear and present danger.
Fear of fog has struck the already-shaky airline business. While it copes with the global economic slump, travel agents say occupancy in the morning flights to and from Delhi is set to drop by another 15-20 per cent.
Busy executives do not want to take a chance with frustrating fog delays marking Delhi winters and upsetting their PowerPoint schedules. This year could be worse, with a recent Central Pollution Control Board study indicating that pollution has gone up steeply in Delhi, and that is likely to thicken the smog.
Companies are also ensuring that their executives are sent a day ahead. Advance bookings for red-eye hours (when flights are affected because of foggy weather at the Delhi airport) have gone down. December to mid-February is the problem time.
Air travel occupancy, which remains at around 75 per cent this time of the year, has already gone down by 15 per cent because of the meltdown, say industry experts. "Occupancy to and from Delhi during the red-eye hours is likely to fall further by another 15-20 per cent. There is a dip in advance bookings for these hours," said Pradeep Lulla, president, Travel Agents Federation of India. Travel agents contribute to more than 80 per cent of air bookings.
"My agency mainly deals in corporate bookings. Private companies are advancing business trips by a day or so," he said.
The Delhi airport has CAT III systems to combat fog but some airlines have still not trained pilots to fly in such conditions.Under-booking may cause most aircraft to fly only half-filled this winter. "There is a fall in the bookings for the red-eye hours. People have had a very bad experience travelling to and from Delhi in winter mornings in the past years. We have witnessed a 10-15 per cent shortfall in early morning bookings," said Bhavna Aggarwal, head of airlines business, Yatra.com.
Business travellers are fed up.
"Although I have to spend an extra night away from home, I plan to take flights a day in advance for my business trips. There is no choice," said Paras Bali, director (sales), India, National Geographic Channel. "People get stranded for hours. Airlines don't even bother to inform passengers. I think airlines should be taken to task for the mess."
Airlines, however, say they are prepared to fight the fog. But they may not be able to reduce prices to woo travellers, as they are currently not making a lot of money. "We will take all measures to minimise the impact of fog. But as of now there are no plans to reduce airfare for these hours," said a spokesperson for Kingfisher Airlines.
Jet Airways also denied any imminent reduction in airfare.
"There will be an elaborate system in place to facilitate passengers during foggy weather. We will announce the plans soon," said a Jet Airways spokesperson.
| FLY BY NIGHT |
* Fog delays have gone up to 8-10 hours in the last few years
* Passengers complain that airlines do not even make necessary announcements
* Early-morning flight occupancy may go down to 30-50 per cent in winter
* Fares are unlikely to come down despite low demand for early flights |
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| Delhi morning flight bookings drop by 20% |
| Execs take no chances, re-do travel plans |
| Planes will go half-filled, but won't discount |
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