Government warns airlines on high fares

NEW DELHI - Airlines cannot be allowed to charge “exorbitant” fares and errant firms will be dealt with strictly, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and aviation sector watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Thursday.

“We are working on a transparency plan on the prices so that the passengers could be made aware of them. Aware passengers are the best regulation,” director general of civil aviation Dr. Nasim Zaidi said here.

He said DGCA had issued notices to airlines on ticket prices, and their replies were expected by Dec 1.

Earlier Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said airlines were charging exorbitant fares in the past few weeks, and this would not be allowed.

“This is a phenomenon which has been taken serious note of by the ministry as well as the DGCA,” Patel said.

He further said that the aviation watchdog DGCA had the powers to check such malpractices, and it would invoke them if airlines do not fall in line.

“DGCA has sent notices to all the airlines and this kind of predatory pricing cannot be justified and it cannot be allowed to continue. DGCA has special powers and they can certainly invoke them if the airlines do not act responsibly in the days to come,” the minister added.

Passengers have been particularly complaining about the Delhi-Mumbai route, where fares have risen by a significant margin in the recent past. This route accounts for 70 percent of the total domestic air traffic.

Patel said airlines could publish lower and higher end of price bands for all routes, which would make the process more transparent.

“But they cannot go for a free run and ask for any kind of price from a customer at the last minute,” he said, referring to recent cases where airlines hiked prices by up to 200 percent for last-minute bookings.

Earlier this month, DGCA had asked domestic airlines to maintain transparency in publishing fares across various categories - including the basic fare, and taxes and other hidden costs.

Airlines would also be required to publish the air fares on their websites or in newspapers and any significant change in tariff will have to be brought to DGCA’s notice within 24 hours.