The Centre has asked airline operators Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air to share data on average fare charged in December when unprecedented flight disruptions prompted the government to temporarily impose airfare caps following a sudden spike in air tickets.
According to sources, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the airline operators to provide the average airfare data after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) wrote to the aviation regulator on the matter. The information sought by the airlines is from the period of December 1 to December 15.
The CCI has sought data for its ongoing proceedings against IndiGo to investigate whether it abused its dominant market position in the domestic aviation sector.
In early December, things came to a standstill when, due to a shortage of pilots, thousands of IndiGo flights were cancelled and delayed, leaving many passengers stranded in multiple airports across the country. Those desperate to reach their destinations were forced to pay the unusually high fares being charged by various airline operators.
Flyers had taken to social media to vent their anger against airlines such as IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet and many travel aggregators for charging overpriced airfares during the distress period.
Some air tickets went beyond ₹50,000 to ₹80,000, which generally cost around ₹5,000-7,000 if booked earlier.
On December 6, the government intervened and imposed a cap on airfare tickets for a temporary period. The airfare caps were not applicable for business class and UDAN flights and also excluded user development fee (UDF), passenger service fee (PSF) and taxes on air tickets.
The CCI on December 18 took cognisance of the crisis and began examining IndiGo’s monopoly in the domestic aviation market, in which IndiGo controls a 60 per cent share.