If you’ve ever tried booking a flight within the Northeast, you already know the pain. The fares are brutal, often making no logical sense — and now, the Indian Youth Congress is demanding that Parliament take a hard look at why.
The Numbers That Don’t Add Up
IYC national general secretary Tarh Johny has written to Gaurav Gogoi, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, urging him to raise the issue of soaring airfares and limited airline competition in the Northeast during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament. The letter also landed on the desks of Rahul Gandhi and Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu. But here’s what really grabs your attention — the numbers Johny put in black and white. On July 18, a non-stop 50-minute flight between Imphal and Guwahati was priced at Rs 11,687, while a much longer 2-hour-40-minute non-stop flight from Imphal to New Delhi was available for just Rs 10,525 on the very same day. Read that again. The shorter flight costs more. That’s not a pricing glitch — that’s a structural problem.
Not a Luxury. A Lifeline.
Johny argued that air travel in the Northeastern states is an essential mode of transport rather than a luxury, given the region’s difficult terrain, limited railway connectivity, and long road travel times. This is something anyone from the region understands viscerally. Missing a flight here doesn’t just mean inconvenience — it can mean missing a medical appointment in Guwahati, a college entrance deadline, or getting stranded during a family emergency. The geography leaves people with very few choices, and the airlines seem to know that.
Competition Is the Real Problem
Johny alleged that limited airline competition on regional routes has made air travel increasingly unaffordable, particularly for students, patients, businesspersons, and families travelling during emergencies. When only one or two carriers operate a route, they set whatever price they want. There’s no pressure to bring fares down. The result is a captive market where the most vulnerable passengers — a sick person rushing to a hospital, a student heading to an exam — end up paying the highest prices. It’s a quiet crisis that doesn’t make national headlines often enough.
What the IYC Is Demanding
The representation isn’t just a complaint — it comes with concrete asks. Johny urged the Centre to conduct a comprehensive review of airfare trends in the region, direct the DGCA to examine sudden fare spikes, encourage greater airline competition on Northeast routes, establish a transparent airfare monitoring mechanism, and formulate a long-term policy to ensure equitable and affordable regional air connectivity. The issue, he noted, cuts across all eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.
Will Parliament Actually Listen?
Whether Gaurav Gogoi takes this up on the floor of the House remains to be seen. But the case is hard to ignore — when a 50-minute flight costs more than a flight to the national capital, something is clearly broken. The Northeast has waited long enough for affordable skies. This Monsoon Session might just be the moment to finally demand them.
HASHTAGS
#NortheastAirfares #YouthCongress #TarhJohny #GauravGogoi #IYC #NortheastIndia #AirfareCrisis #MonsoonSession #Parliament #DGCA #ArunachalPradesh #Manipur #ImbalancedFares #AirTravelIndia #RegionalConnectivity #AfordableFlights #NortheastConnectivity #CivilAviation #LokSabha #AbotaniTV
