Air tickets on the Imphal-Kolkata route have increased almost 5-6 times to Rs 20,000 per ticket. Debjit Datta, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, West Bengal chapter, said, “The situation in Manipur continues to be tense and people are rushing to leave Imphal to go to Kolkata as well as their hometowns. In this tense situation, they are Facing a huge problem of air tickets which are almost exorbitant with nominal fares.” The Speaker said that this is because of the situation in Manipur which is likely to remain the same in the coming few days.
Datta said, “If we talk about flights from Imphal to Kolkata, Air India operated one flight daily in the morning. Indigo operated four flights including connected and direct flight from Imphal to Kolkata. All flights were packed to capacity for the next two days.” , Dutta said Air India fares from Imphal to Kolkata are around Rs 17,000 for business class on Tuesday and Rs 14,000 for economy class for May 11.
He also informed that Air Asia has a flight from May 15, whose fare is Rs 4,000. The chairman said, “IndiGo’s direct flight from Imphal to Kolkata on May 10 costs Rs 11,000 and the connected flight charges Rs 20,000 per person.”
AirAsia, Flybig and Alliance Air on Monday scheduled eight relief flights for people stranded during the prevailing situation in Manipur. These operational relief flights are part of the central government’s initiative to evacuate the stranded people from distressed places in the northeastern state at the earliest.
Meanwhile, according to the Guwahati Airport Authority, AirAsia operated an additional commercial relief flight from Guwahati to Imphal on Monday. According to the Guwahati Airport Authority, Flybig has scheduled two relief flights for Monday. One was operated in the morning and the other is scheduled to take off from Imphal at 18.40 in the evening.
According to Guwahati Airport Authority, Flybig flight brought 70 students to Guwahati airport in an early morning flight. It also said that Alliance Air has operated a total of five relief flights till date.
Air India on Monday said it started special flights from Imphal on Saturday and Sunday to facilitate people stranded in Manipur amid ongoing violence and ethnic conflict.
Violence broke out in Manipur between Hindu Metis and tribal Kukis, who are Christians, after a rally by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on 3 May. Violence gripped the entire state for several days, prompting the central government to deploy paramilitary forces to bring the situation under control.