NEW DELHI: Faced with questions on exorbitant airfares charged by airlines during peak seasons and certain other instances in Parliament on Thursday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that airfares are neither established nor regulated by the government, but in case there is a steep rise in ticket prices, airlines are sensitised for necessary intervention.
The minister’s comment comes at a time when it has become a common practice among airlines to charge exorbitant ticket rates during peak seasons. Even during crises such as the closure of Jet Airways and fall in seating capacity post the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft, the airlines had been selling tickets at steep prices.
The prices are fixed by airlines keeping in mind the market, demand, seasonality and other factors. “The fare structures are displayed by airlines on their websites. The airlines remain compliant to the prevailing regulation as long as airfares charged by them are in line with the fare displayed on their websites,” Puri said in a written reply.
Aviation regulator DGCA monitors airfares on certain routes on a random basis. “The fare monitoring analysis carried out by DGCA in the recent past has shown that airfares remained well within the fare bucket uploaded by the airlines on their respective websites. In case any steep fare hike is observed, ministry of civil aviation or DGCA sensitise the airlines for necessary inter-vention,” Puri noted.