Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has informed the State that the ticket rate for the Haj pilgrimage flight from the Calicut airport has been brought down substantially.
In response to a letter by K.V. Thomas, special representative of the State government in New Delhi, who sought to reduce the Haj pilgrimage ticket rates from Kozhikode, Mr. Scindia said a Haj Air Travel Committee (HATC) was constituted to facilitate arrangements for Haj air charter operations.
The HATC consists of representatives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA), Haj Committee of India (HCol), Consul General of India, Jeddah, Airports Authority of India (AAl) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Bids were invited by HATC from the designated airlines of India and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through an open tender. Based on the bids received, the lowest bidder was identified for each embarkation point (EP) in India. Accordingly, embarkation points were allocated to the airlines.
Even as the HATC makes all efforts to ensure that the Haj operations take place in an efficient and economical manner, the participating airlines submit bids based on the commercial and operational viability of the specific embarkation point.
One EP cannot, therefore, be compared with another one, as there are multiple factors involved, namely, geographical location, route plan, aircraft availability, etc., the Minister said. The State had earlier written to the Centre following the concerns expressed by various Muslim outfits over the proposed move to impose high airfare for Haj pilgrims from Calicut International Airport.
