Airline losses are set to become the railways’ gain. As soaring domestic airfares make travellers cringe at the thought of flying, Indian Railways which is offering attractively low fares is well on track to regain lost popularity.

Over the last few months, airlines have tried to offset sky-high crude oil prices - currently around $135 a barrel - by repeatedly increasing the fuel surcharge component on tickets. While air fares have become almost twice as expensive as last year, rail travel which is subsidised has continued to remain just as cheap, thus widening the gap between air and rail fares.

Consider this: A typical Delhi-Mumbai trip on a no-frills airline which cost just Rs 2,900 last May is now priced at around Rs 4,000-4,400 per ticket. For full service carriers, the charge ranges between Rs 5,000-8,800 per person. On the other hand, the cost of an AC 2 ticket on the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani has remained almost constant at Rs 1,975. On non-Rajdhani trains, AC 1 fares cost Rs 2,600, AC 2 fares come at Rs 1,550 and AC3 fares are priced just over Rs 1,100, which is 400 per cent cheaper than current airfares. A ticket on the Garib Rath costs just Rs 600.

The aviation industry has already begun to notice the impact of steep airfares that are driving away passengers. In the Jan-March quarter of 2008, the industry notched up a growth rate of just 11-12 per cent over the year-ago period — the lowest quarterly growth posted in the last four years. In April, the going got even worse, with the sector showing single-digit growth of just over eight per cent. Airports like Chennai, which registered a growth in passenger handling of over 33 per cent in January last year, grew at a meager four per cent this year.

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