Costly flights: Govt says fare caps won’t help; ‘our intervention has seen fares fall upto 60%’
NEW DELHI: India is unlikely to cap airfares as the cost of flying — first international and now domestic too — touches new highs. The aviation ministry on Tuesday said “introducing fare caps in a de-regulated environment on various sectors will lead to market distortion. The benefits of market competition will not be available to passengers at large.”
The ministry said this in a detailed statement issued on how airlines decide airfares and why the same high. It said “as a result of this intervention, (domestic airfares) have seen up to 60% decline. This is being monitored daily by the minister (Jyotiraditya Scindia) himself.” While international airfares globally have been at unprecedented levels since late 2021, the past few months have seen domestic tickets also defy gravity due to factors like Go Air going bust; Pratt & Whitney’s inability to supply replacement engines to Indigo due to which almost 40 planes are one ground for months and SpiceJet operating relatively few flights.
