Indian airlines are in no mood to give perks to MPs

 

Indian airlines have decided not to entertain demands of Members of the Parliament (MP). They have decided not to roll out quota of seats on flights, air travel facilities and assistance at airports to board and deboard a plane.

A meeting was called by the Joint Committee on salaries and allowance of MP at the behest the aviation ministry to discuss "issues" related to these perks, rejected all these demands. The meeting was attended by the senior executives of IndiGo, Air India, JAirways, SpiceJet and GoAir.

A senior executive said that the decisions on the perks should be decided by the airlines.

"We are private enterprises. We already pay taxes and should not be burdened with these additional costs," he told ET.

Earlier this week, airlines said no to the three main demands of the MPs that usually were: - to allocate a quota of seats on airlines, meet and assist services at the airports and an end to "the disparity between minimum maximum fare buckets on low-cost airlines".

However, one of the many MPs attending the meeting agreed that fares should be fair. "If one has to travel to, say, Mumbai tomorrow, one will have to pay a few thousand more than what one will for a flight a few days later. This (surge pricing) should stop," the MP said.

Other things were also brought to light in the meeting. Certain suggestions like preference to MPs while allotting front row seats (which have more leg room), an end to the practice of travel agents charging fares higher than airline websites and providing them wheelchairs and carts to commute from the entrance of the airport terminal to the vehicle that takes them to the tarmac were made.

The panel is lead by MP Yogi Adityanath and has nine other Lok Sabha MPs and three Rajya Sabha MPs as members. This year, they also recommended that their salaries along with the perks should be doubled. MPs now get a salary, including allowances, of Rs 1.4 lakh a month, according to PRS Legislative Research, a body that tracks the functioning of parliament. The salary of MPs is tax free and comes with additional benefits like free petrol, free telephone calls and free housing. MPs, their companions, or spouses, also get free air tickets when they go on official trips.
(image:indiatimes)