Some airlines may have to shut due to predatory pricing: Hardeep Singh Puri

India’s civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday blamed predatory pricing by airlines for the sustained losses in the industry. However, he ruled out any regulatory intervention for now and said that airlines are regularly called and counselled whenever instances of predatory pricing are noticed.

Under current regulations, it is the prerogative of airlines to establish their process of determination of airfares. As such, the government does not interfere in their commercial affairs.

“We have noticed instances where airlines are pricing their tickets at a level which is lower than their operational cost. Such measures may benefit in the short term but in the longer term they hurt the entire industry,” Puri said, citing the example of the popular Delhi-Mumbai sector in which he said price haven’t gone up in the last 10 years.