pune the authorities and experts in the travel industry said they feel the hike in airfares would be marginal and would not affect passengers much after the centre decided to hike the aviation security fee asf from rs130 to rs150 last week but the flyers didnt feel the same amid the already high fares even a minor hike would pinch there has been a surge in bookings for summer travel the implementation of the asf would lead to a marginal increase in airfares and will not have an impact on future bookings in fact travellers can still avail of the benefit through flash sales and early bird discounts we advise our customers to prebook their tickets in order to make the best of the deals daniel dsouza the president country head of leisure sotc travel said sarvesh kishan a resident of patna who planned to travel to patna next month said the airfares were high in the last three four months due to the pandemonium in the aviation industry the closure of jet airways and grounding of other airlines really made the situation bad for travellers even though the situation has improved a bit now the airfares are still high i am paying rs40000 both ways for a trip to patna next month with my family with the industry having settled a bit even a minor hike will hit us the policymakers and airlines should provide relief to passengers rather than just increase fares nilesh bhansali the director of travel agents association of pune said the airfares had comparatively come under some control it has been under some control and we too do not feel that the rise in asf will impact passengers in a big way it is a nominal hike but the government should cater to more security and safety for passengers he said aviation expert and analyst dhairyashil vandekar said the decision must have been taken in a view of new steps being taken related to security and safety they are talking about body scanners at airports now and many other security measures if the hike was in the form of a percentage it might have been impactful however i too feel that it is a marginal hike he said piyush anand a frequent flyer thought otherwise the travel experts and aviation experts might say anything but the fact remains that after hikes in fares in the past few months we need a breather and a break even a nominal hike will pinch in view of several taxes associated with an air ticket he said indiver rastogi the president of global business travel thomas cook india ltd told toi that travel safety was very important whether leisure or business customers are increasingly focused on travel safety and we see this manifest in the growth of our travel insurance transactions hence given the proposed hike in security fee structure is nominal we anticipate no opposition from customers however what is vital is ensuring effective and sustained implementation