Agartala, December 6 (TIWN): The air passengers of Tripura are facing serious problem as the air ticket fare for Agartala­ to Kolkata route has been hiked over Rs 5000 to 15000 from the last month. The passengers are getting enraged after facing the acute air ticket crisis, black marketing of travel agencies and foul ticket fares. In the mean time, SpiceJet had also withdrawn one flight from Agartala- Kolkata route.

According to a travel agency of the capital city, air service providers have hiked the ticket fare by taking the chance of mega block conversion. As because of mega block many passengers are not able to travel by train. Some of the passengers have alleged that, some travel agencies are continuing their black marketing in the name of ‘group ticket’. While one of the official said, there is no logic why an airlines company can charge up to Rs 15,000 for a 310 KM journey (aeronautical) from Agartala to Kolkata”, he said.  Surprisingly, there is no upper limit for maximum fare of private air service providers like, jet Airways, Indio and Spicejet. But the government’s air service provider Air India set Rs 9800 as maximum fare in Agartala­ Kolkata route.

As because of Air India’s ticket crisis, many of the emergency patients are not able to fly Kolkata from Agartala through Air India’s flight. Air India is the only air service provider in Agartala which allows the emergency patients for fly to Kolkata or other states through stretcher.

According to the passengers, a competition like which can charge more extra fare from the passengers is going on between the travel agencies and private air ticket providers form the last two months. The Tripura government and police administration is still remained silent after knowing everything. As a result their passengers’ suffering is being increased in the state. Jet Airways today withdrew its last flight from Agartala Airport, reducing the total daily flight count to nine.