Govt. staff can book LTC, other tickets on private airlines

Bookings allowed only through three agencies, as per new order

Government employees availing free air travel can book their tickets through private airlines, including when they are using leave travel concession facility, said a government clarification on Wednesday, weeks after the sale of Air India to Tata Sons. Earlier, the staff were allowed to travel only by Air India, with certain exceptions. “It is clarified that the air travel on government account, both domestic (including LTC) and international travel, can be made by private airlines,” according to an office memorandum issued on Wednesday by the Department of Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance and sent to all Ministries and departments of the government of India.

Government staff will however have to make their bookings only through one of the three authorised agencies — Balmer Lawrie, IRCTC and Ashok Travels, it said.

Under the leave travel concession facility, a government official can travel to any place in India irrespective of the distance from his or her headquarters, once in a block of four calendar years.

Earlier, government officials could only book their air travel through Air India and only when the airline did not fly to a particular destination could a person choose a private airline, explained Adika Ratna Sekhar, chairman and managing director, Balmer Lawrie.

Government personnel could either book their air tickets directly from Air India or approach one of the three agencies but now they can’t purchase a ticket directly from any airline. They will have the option of making bookings either offline or online. If their organisation has a corporate billing system, then the employee booking a ticket may not make a payment upfront, and if there is no such system then the employee pays for the ticket and seeks a reimbursement from the organisation, explained Pankaj Ravish, joint general manager, Corporate Marketing and Event Management, IRCTC.