Rajya Sabha Congress MP Vivek Tankha has written to three Union ministers seeking immediate government intervention to rein in surging airfares on India-Gulf routes, warning that over one crore Indian expatriates and their families back home are bearing the brunt of ticket prices that have outpaced employer travel allowances. The letter, sent on Friday, 23 May 2025, was addressed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu.

What Tankha Has Demanded

Tankha urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to review fare structures on India-UAE and other Gulf corridors during the peak summer travel window of June to August. He specifically called for temporary fare subsidisation and an increase in the frequency of budget airline services on Gulf routes to provide near-term relief to passengers.

The Scale of the Problem

According to Tankha, airfares on India-Gulf sectors have climbed so steeply that the Fixed Travel Allowance (FTA) provided by Gulf employers — typically around AED 1,000 — no longer covers even half the cost of a return ticket. The senior Congress leader said the majority of Indian workers in the Gulf belong to middle and lower-middle income groups, and that many families are now being forced to postpone or cancel their annual summer visits entirely.

'Over one crore Indians live and work across the Gulf region. The vast majority of them are middle-class workers whose livelihoods sustain millions of families back home in India,' Tankha said.

The Human Cost

Tankha framed the issue as more than an economic grievance, describing the annual summer trip as 'not a luxury but a necessity' for migrant workers whose only opportunity to reunite with family comes once a year. 'The human cost of prolonged separation, of children growing up without a parent present and the quiet toll it takes, is equally significant,' he said.

Context and Background

The India-Gulf air corridor is one of the busiest in the world, driven by a diaspora of over one crore workers concentrated in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Summer travel demand spikes sharply between June and August, when school holidays align with annual leave cycles, creating conditions that airlines have historically used to push fares higher. Critics argue that the concentration of routes among a small number of carriers limits competitive pressure. This is not the first time parliamentarians have raised the issue — similar concerns were voiced during the post-pandemic travel surge — but the combination of a weak rupee and elevated fuel costs has made the current season particularly acute, according to reports.

What Happens Next

The three ministries have not yet issued a formal response to Tankha's letter. Any corrective action would likely require coordination between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), bilateral air services agreements, and potentially the airlines themselves. Industry observers note that temporary fare caps or subsidies on international routes are administratively complex and have rarely been implemented in India's aviation history.