New Delhi, July 21: The government today said it had amended rules to rectify “deceptive” advertisements by airline companies to make them give the break-up of fares charged from passengers.
“In order to rectify the deceptive advertisements by airlines, Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rule, 1937, has been amended,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Airlines will have to display tariff in a conspicuous manner to show the total amount payable by a passenger and the complete break-up of the amount indicating the fare, tax, fees or any other charge separately, he said.
The minister added that domestic airlines such as NACIL (formed by the merger of Air India and Indian), Jet, JetLite, Kingfisher, SpiceJet, Paramount, Go, Indigo and MDLR had complied with the rules in displaying airfares on their websites.
But a tourism industry source said: “Some airlines are giving the fare break-up but some others are yet to comply.”
Jet Airways is not showing the break-up. “The break-ups are not shown in the promotional fares but it is mentioned taxes would be added to the basic fare,” an airline official said.
Air India said it was complying. “Air India has been giving the full fare with the break-up, including fuel surcharge, passenger service fees and user development fees,” its spokesperson said in Calcutta.
Tipsy before take-off
When it comes to getting tipsy before take-off, Vijay Mallya’s pilots are ahead of the rest.
The government today told the Upper House that the maximum number of pilots found to be under the influence of alcohol before take-off in the past one year were from the liquor baron’s Kingfisher Airlines.
Mallya has named his airline after the most popular beer brand in his brewery business.
Pilots of Naresh Goyal’s Jet were also on the list.
“Eight pilots of Kingfisher Airlines, six each of Indigo and SpiceJet and three each of Jetlite, Jet Airways and Paramount were detected alco-positive during pre-flight medical examinations,” Praful Patel said in his written reply to a query.
