Airlines will be free to decide what to charge passengers from August 31; the government has ended the limits it had placed on airfares when the pandemic began.
Airlines have been reporting large losses but some said that with no restrictions on fares now – both upper and lower limits have been removed – they may discount tickets to ensure that the volume of passengers increases.
“I see this as a positive for passengers as fares should come down,” Vinamra Longani, Head of Operations, Sarin & Co, told NDTV.
“I think it an excellent move for the consumers as well as the airlines,” aviation expert Parvez Damania said.
The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel. Stabilisation has set in & we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future. https://t.co/qxinNNxYyu
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (मोदी का परिवार) (@JM_Scindia) August 10, 2022
“The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel. Stabilisation has set in & we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future,” tweeted Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The government, in a rare move, had regulated fares by imposing a minimum and maximum band based on the flight’s duration to prevent ticket prices from spiking due to pent-up demand arising from an easing of restrictions on air travel.
The aviation industry was one of the worst hit during the pandemic.
