The government will remove the fare caps it imposed on domestic airlines in 2020 during the pandemic at the end of this month, the country’s civil aviation ministry said on Wednesday, lifting restrictions that will allow carriers to raise fares as well as offer deep discounts.
The government, in a rare move, imposed minimum and maximum fares based on a flight’s duration to prevent ticket prices from spiking when air travel was reopened following the lockdowns in 2020.
“After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations, viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel in terms of purpose specified in initial order… it has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from [August] 31,” said the aviation ministry’s order dated August 10.
