The country?s aviation industry regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started scrutinising the route-wise airfares provided by domestic carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. The regulator is expected to take few days before airlines are given clean-chit on allegedly predatory pricing.
?We are scrutinising the data given by airlines and okaying it. The process would take some time,? DGCA head EK Bharat Bhushan said. Meanwhile, airlines have started simplifying the fare related information in the interest of consumers. The carriers are expected to post the simplified version of fare details on their websites in the next few days.
Following a flurry of complaints from passengers of excessive spot fare, the aviation regulator had directed the carriers to ensure transparency in ticket-pricing by providing route and date-wise fare details.
While airlines have published various fare categories on their networks they have decided to not reveal the number of available seats in a fare bucket as demanded by a section of traveling public.
Airfares especially on metro routes had jumped up in the first two weeks of November forcing the government to step in. Ticket prices on some of the sectors such as Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Bangalore had gone up as much as Rs 35,000.
?It?s good that the regulator has stepped in and asked the carriers to resist from the practice of excessive pricing. While the DGCA for the sake of airline industry has not tried to fix fares it has given the message to airlines that they can not operate arbitrarily,? Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India head Kapil Kaul said.
The government has set up Aviation Economic Advisory Council (AECA) comprising representative of airlines, industry chambers and consumer forums to monitor tariff and levies charged by domestic airlines. The council is expected to meet every three months and give its feedback to the government.