The Centre on Saturday stepped in to curb unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines during the ongoing operational chaos at IndiGo, which has left passengers stranded across the country.
A press release from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said the issue had been taken “very seriously” and that the ministry had invoked its regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes. The move aims to protect passengers from opportunistic pricing and financial exploitation amid the airline crisis.
An official directive has been issued to all carriers, mandating strict adherence to newly prescribed fare caps, which will remain in place "until fares stabilise or till further review."
"The objective of this directive is to maintain pricing discipline in the market, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel --including senior citizens, students, and patients-- are not subjected to financial hardship during this period," the ministry said.
According to the directive, the airfare has been limited to:
-Rs 7,500 for up to 500 km
-Rs 12,000 for 500-1,000 km
-Rs 15,000 for 1,000-1,500 km
-Rs 18,000 for over 1,500 km
The caps are exclusive of airport levies and taxes and do not apply to business class fares, and on flights operated under the regional connectivity scheme, the order stated.
"These fare limits shall be applicable for all forms of bookings, regardless of whether the purchase is made directly through the airline’s official website or through various online travel agents’ platforms. The airlines shall maintain air ticket availability across all buckets for travel and if need be consider capacity enhancement on sectors characterised by surge in demand,” the ministry said.
The step comes as IndiGo struggles to restore normalcy after several days of flight cancellations and delays, which have also triggered public protests at major airports and prompted a high-level DGCA inquiry into the airline’s operational lapses. Civil aviation officials emphasized that the regulatory intervention is part of broader efforts to ensure passenger welfare during the ongoing disruption.
Meanwhile, the Railways has also stepped in to help the distraught passengers by announcing as many as 84 special trains across all zones.
"The number of special trains and their trips might increase further depending on the traffic scenario. All zones have been asked to make use of all available resources, including rolling stock as well as manpower, to safely operate these trains for the convenience of lakhs of passengers stranded at different parts of the country due to flight cancellations," said Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information & Publicity, Railway Board.
Air India to add capacity
The Air India Group, in a statement released shortly after the government order, said it is looking to add capacity to help passengers impacted by the IndiGo flight disruptions.
"Air India and Air India Express are seeking to add capacity to help travellers and their baggage reach their destinations as quickly as possible," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Air India and Air India Express released a statement stating that the airline was not overcharging, as highlighted by some passengers on social media. “We self-imposed a cap on December 4 itself well before the government asked all airlines to do so,” it said. The tickets with high fares being displayed are Premium Economy or Business Class, a source claimed. They are generally higher than regular tickets even in normal times, the source added.
The airline added that it is not technically possible to cap fares for all flight permutations.
Late Saturday, the Aviation Ministry shared photos of Kolkata, Delhi and Trichy airports and said, “Normalcy is restored at the airports across the country. All necessary facilities are provided to passengers. Check-in and Check-out are happening smoothly.”