“Airfares are not regulated by the governments. The airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs by taking into account all relevant factors, including the cost of operation, characteristics of service, reasonable profit and the generally prevailing tariff.”
— Ministry of Civil Aviation
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been keeping track of airfares on certain routes on a monthly, rolling basis for a 15 day’s cycle, in order to ensure reasonable airfares, according to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen (Retd) VK Singh. Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
“Airfares are not regulated by the governments. The airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs by taking into account all relevant factors, including the cost of operation, characteristics of service, reasonable profit and the generally prevailing tariff,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in an official statement.
The fare bands are revised from time to time in view of the substantial hike in the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) in order to keep the aviation sector viable while protecting the interests of the passengers.
The statement also said that airfares decided by the airlines are displayed on their respective websites. “In order to prevent excessive charging and sudden surges in airfares and to promote transparency by scheduled domestic airlines, the DGCA has issued air transport circular wherein airlines are required to display on their respective websites route-wise tariff sheet across their network in various fare categories.”
In the last two years, Covid-19 had impacted the revenue streams of the aviation sector. “Under normal circumstances, airfares are neither established nor regulated by the government. However, due to the unprecedented circumstances, fare bands with upper and lower limits were introduced by the government as a special measure. The fare bands serve the dual purpose of protecting the interests of the travellers as well as of the airlines,” the statement said. The fare bands are revised from time to time in view of the substantial hike in the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) in order to keep the aviation sector viable while protecting the interests of the passengers.
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