Since 1954, Air India has been operating Haj charter flights on Bombay-Jeddah-Bombay
sector. Initially Air India had been
using Boeing 707 aircraft. In 1979,
in order to cope with the increasing demand of Haj pilgrims. Boeing 747 aircraft were deployed alongwith
707s. There has been steady escalation
in the number of pilgrims being carried.
In 1975, Air India had carried 1550 pilgrims whereas in 1988 Air India
carried a total number of 20,114 pilgrims.
Until 1982 Haj charters were operated only on Bombay-Jeddah-Bombay
sector. From 1983, Delhi was also
introduced in addition to Bombay as
a second point in India . In 1987,
Madras was also added to the list. In
1987, Air India also made arrangements with Indian Airlines to operate additional
flights to accommodate pilgrims by air on the Srinagar-Delhi-Srinagar sector
to connect at Delhi with international flights.
Commencing from 1984, Saudia, the national carrier of Saudi Arabia,
also started sharing Haj charter traffic on 50:50 basis with Air India.
It would be observed from the above that in the past, Haj pilgrims
used to travel to Jeddah and back both by Ship and Air.
Pursuant to a decision of the Cabinet the Haj sailings have been discontinued
since 1995 and Haj movement started to take place by air. The pilgrims
go to Jeddah for Haj either through Central Haj Committee (CHC) or on their
own by commercial flights. It is only
since 1993 that aircraft were chartered from international airlines to provide
transport for Haj pilgrims. All pilgrims now travel to/from Jeddah by Air.
MEA is the administrative Ministry of Haj Affairs.
The statutory responsibility of making arrangements for transporting
Haj pilgrims by any mode including by air is of the Central Haj Committee
(CHC).
Ministry
of Civil Aviation/Air India was the nodal agency handing the movement of Indian
pilgrims to/from Saudi Arabia upto 1995.
Pursuance to a Cabinet decision dated 1st September 1995, the
Central Haj Committee was made the nodal agency for the air charter
negotiations for Haj 1996 operations.
However, this experience was not happy.
Accordingly, on 24.9.1996, the Cabinet restored the earlier procedure
for Haj 1997 viz air charter negotiations be conducted, contract signed and
implemented by Air India rather than CHC.
Meaning Air India was made the nodal agency again. The Cabinet also decided that the
representatives of Central Haj Committee, Ministry of External Affairs,
Ministry of Civil Aviation and Director General of Civil Aviation should be
associated with the air charter negotiations.
Accordingly, a procedure has evolved under which Air India makes arrangements
for chartering aircraft for carrying Haj Committee pilgrims from various gateways
points in India to Jeddah and back in consultation with the representatives
of CHC, MEA & DGCA.
In May 2000, Supreme Court passed a Judgement that the Haj Committee
shall function under the direct supervision and control of Foreign Secretary(FS)
and none of its decision would be given effect to unless approved by FS himself.
In June 2002, the Parliament passed the Haj Committee Act, 2002 (No.
35 of 2002) to establish a Haj Committee of India and State Haj Committee
for making arrangements for the pilgrimage of Muslims for Haj, and for matters
connected therewith. As per Section
9(1) (iv) of this Act, the duties of Haj Committee include the duty to finalize
the annual plan with the approval of the Central Government, and execute the
plan, including the arrangements for travel by air or any other means, and
to advise in matters relating to accommodations.
Section 9(1) (vi) says the duty to co-ordinate with the Central Government,
railways, airways and travel agencies for the purpose of securing traveling
facilities for pilgrims.
The number of Haj pilgrims has gradually increased – 31,000 in 1995;
50,347 in 1996 to 63,648 in 1998. The
pilgrims quota fixed by MEA remain at 72,000 during last five years. However, the quota for haj – 2005 has been increased from 72,000
to 82,000. Actual number of pilgrims
carried by air during last five years is given below:-
Year
No.of Pilgrims
2000
71924
2001
71215
2002
70298
2003
70019
2004
71945
2005
80786
2006
99926
Gradual Increase in haj subsidy
Fare charged
for the Haj round trip and the subsidy given per passenger sine 1994 are as
under:-
Year Fare
payable to Carrier Fare paid by Subsidy
per
(Per Pilgrim)
each pilgrim pilgrim(2-3)
(1) (2) (3) (4)
1991 14056 10000 4056
1992 15300 10500 4800
1993 18000 11000 7000
1994 17000 12000 5000
1995 17500 12000 5500
1996 19403 12000 7403
1997 26,600 12000 14600
1998 29405 12000 17405
1999 27855 12000 15855
2000 29328 12000 17328
2001 34000* 12000 *22000
2002 36609* 12000 *24609
2003 36504* 12000 *24504
2004 34240* 12000 *22240
2005 34240* 12000 *22240
2006 40,000* 12000 *28000
*Provisional
Increase in Charter cost and reasons
thereof
Prior to
1993, the Haj operations were undertaken by AI/IA with their own aircraft. This resulted in cancellation of scheduled
flights and loss of revenue and goodwill of airlines. Therefore from 1993 onwards (except 1997) the haj operations were
undertaken with wet leased aircraft. Haj
operations involve a heavy volume of traffic in a limited time period every
year. It is not economical to have
dedicated aircraft devoted only to haj operations. Aircraft is very costly equipment and its economic
viability depends on its optimal utilization. Aircraft cannot be purchased and kept specifically
for undertaking limited haj operations because of being expensive as compared
to cost of chartering. In 1997 AI
undertook haj operations with its own aircraft. This led to massive cancellation/reduction
of its services, which was criticized in the media, parliament and industry
and trade. Consequently, it was decided
that in future the disruption of Air India’s scheduled flight should be avoided
and Haj operations be undertaken with chartered aircraft.
In Haj operations, the aircraft that transport the passenger to Jeddah
returns empty. Similarly, on the return
journey from Jeddah, the passenger traffic is again one way. This doubles the cost of operation. Hence the charter operations became more expensive. The scheduled operators can afford to keep
the fares by transporting the passengers on the aircraft both ways. Also the air service operations by scheduled
airlines have a different fare structure from the haj operation costs since
these are part of their larger network operations. Haj charter operations are specifically meant for this purpose and
are a dedicated task undertaken only for this purpose.
Elements of cost of operations are
as under:-
Cost of ACMI (Aircraft,
Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) and fuel charged by charter operator
for aircraft and its operating and cabin crew etc.
Other
Operational Costs:-
This includes landing, handling,
navigation, passenger insurance, catering on ground/on board, give away, staff
hotel plus allowance, Royalty to Saudia, Cost of borrowing and cost of hub
and spoke operations.
Other Hidden Cost of AI:
Several hidden costs not recovered
by Air India from Government or Haj Committee relate to the working of various
officers round the year basis only on haj matters and expenses incurred on
them and on the correspondence and floating of global tender by Air India.
Cost since 2001:
Since 2001,
the Haj operations are being undertaken by Air India & Indian Airlines
in association with Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA).
Since SAA have been participating in the Haj operations and carrying
a large number of pilgrims from India to Jeddah and back (from 4 embarkation
points), @ USD 700 per pilgrims for the last 2-3 years, bids were not called
for chartering of aircrafts for Haj operations. As SAA charges USD 700 as fare and USD 10 as insurance surcharge
for each return seat, Air India is also charging the same but they are being
paid US$ 770 per pilgrims for farther stations like Chennai and Kolkata apart
from US $ 770 per pilgrim for Insurance Surcharge. Air India is also being paid additional cost on actual basis for
the pilgrims from Srinagar and Lucknow.
6.Recommendations for progressive
reduction and eventual elimination of haj subsidy.
Recommendation of Standing for External
Affairs:- The Government
should progressively reduce and eventually eliminate subsidy on their transportation
to and from India.
Recommendation of Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Transport and Tourism:- The committee feels that it is huge amount and it should be withdrawn
in phases.
Recommendation of Expenditure Reforms
Commission (10th Report):- Pending finalization of the modalities of phasing out subsidy,
action should be taken to freeze the subsidy at present level, by limiting
a number of persons to be covered as also the subsidy on the charter fares
at the present level.
7. Government decision about
Haj 2004
In view of the aforesaid recommendations, the Ministry of Civil Aviation
has been making proposal for phased reduction of haj subsidy. In its meeting held on 11th Sept. 2003, the following
proposals were approved by the Government:-
The subsidized
Haj fare to be permitted for each pilgrim only once in his/her life time from
Haj 2004 onwards;
No Income
Tax payers is allowed to avail of the subsidized far from Haj 2004 onwards.
Only those pilgrims who live in the accommodation provided by Haj Committee
would be eligible for the subsidized fare.
The
subsidized fare would be kept at the existing level of Rs. 12,000 for Haj 2004
and the subsidy may be reduced in a phased manner in subsequent years.
Cabinet has also directed that an affidavit be obtained from the pilgrims
to the effect that they have not availed the subsidized Haj fare earlier and
that they are not income tax payee.
A large number of representations were received by the Government to
withdraw the revised guidelines. Haj
Committee also requested in its letter dated 9.10.2003 addressed to MEA, to
defer the implementation of the part of the Government’s decision relating
to exclusion of Income Tax payers, persons performing haj through CHC second
time and pilgrims availing exemptions from reserved accommodation Scheme from
the benefit of subsidized air fare. The
Government considered the above matter and decided that the same could not
be agreed to.
8.Government decisions about Haj-2005
However, in its meeting held on 20th October, 2004, the
following decisions have been taken by the Government:-
(i)
To retain the amount of Rs. 12,000 to be paid by each pilgrim
for the round trip to Jeddah/Madinah and the remaining cost as subsidy to
be paid by Government to Airlines.
(ii)
To add Guwahati and Aurangabad as new embarkation points for
Haj 2005 and Patna will be an embarkation point in place of Gaya.
(iii)
In the current year, all persons who applied for Haj travel
– about 82,000 will be provided the facility; and
(iv)
Policy prevailing prior to September 2003 will be followed. However, non-income tax payees will get higher
priority for availing such facilities.
Saudi Arabian
Airlines, Air India and Indian Airlines transported 80,786 pilgrims to Jeddah.
There were 15 embarkation points in India from where these pilgrims
were uplifted to Jeddah and carried back to same stations and these are Ahmedabad,
Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nagpur,
Jaipur, Lucknow, Srinagar, Aurangabad, Guwahati and Patna.
Aurangabad and Guwahati were added as new embarkation points for Haj
2005. The total subsidy for Haj 2005
comes around to Rs. 165.77 crores approximately.
Haj
2006 Operations
The Government
on 11.8.05 decided that the number of persons performing Haj through the arrangements
made by the Haj Committee under the Government subsidy scheme be increased
from 82,000 to 1,00,000.
The Government on 16.11.06 approved the travel of 110,000 pilgrims
under government subsidy scheme for performing Haj during the Haj 2006-II. This is an increase by 10,000 pilgrims from
Haj 2006.
The government
also decided to retain the fare of Rs 12,000 to be paid by each pilgrim for
the round trip to Jeddah/Medina and the remaining cost to be paid by the government
as subsidy to the airlines transporting the pilgrims.
No fresh
embarkation points have been added to the existing 15 points in India from
where pilgrims are taken to Jeddah and brought back. Haj 2006-II is due to
commence towards end of November 2006.
Up to 60,000
pilgrims will be transported by Saudi Arabian Airways from Mumbai, Delhi,
Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, and the balance by Air India/Indian Airlines from
Kolkata, Calicut, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Patna, Guwahati, Jaipur and Srinagar.
There has
been a steady increase in the number of Haj pilgrims – 71924 in the year 2000
to 99926 in 2006. However the fare paid by each pilgrim has remained Rs. 12000
since 1994. While the subsidy per passenger in 1994 was Rs.5000, it went up
to approximately Rs.28000 in 2006.
Traditionally,
Haj pilgrims used to travel only by ship and the transport arrangements were
coordinated by Shipping Corporation of India and the subsidy was paid from the
Budget of the Ministry of Surface Transport.
MC/GK
(Release ID :23577)