Don’t make profit on stranded passengers, DGCA tells airlines

The aviation safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, came down heavily on the airlines tonight, telling them to keep fares at last week’s level, following reports that airlines were charging more in the wake of strike by Jet pilots. In a letter to all airlines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said quoting media reports that airlines were making money by charging high fares from stranded passengers of Jet Airways, which is on an average cancelling 200 flights every day for the past three days due to strike by its pilots.

It asked the airlines not to charge “very” high airfares but keep the fares at the last week’s level. The jet strike is reported to have impacted around 13,000 passengers, affecting domestic operations severely on key metro routes.

It is on these routes that the low-cost airlines and other full-service carriers hiked the prices. The starting fares on the Delhi-Mumbai route, between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,000 on a low-cost airline, were reported to be around Rs 4,500 on Wednesday. In some cases, the prices went as high as Rs 12,000. A day before, on Tuesday, too, low-cost carriers such as Indigo, GoAir and Kingfisher Red flew passengers at a price of Rs 3,800 to Rs 5,200 on the metro route.

The civil aviation ministry had earlier directed the airlines to ensure that least inconvenience is caused to passengers and they be accommodated on other carriers. State carrier Air India denied any charges of hiking fares. An Air India official told The Indian Express that the carrier had not effected any change in its prices and was following the normal pricing. “The pricing of tickets, as usual, depends on the occupancy level in our aircraft. Pricing is determined by the flight reservation systems.” Air India said that it would deploy additional aircraft and crew if need arose.

“September being a lean season, there is already overcapacity in the market. The question of hiking fares does not arise,” the official said. The civil aviation ministry, which has so far refused to intervene on the issue of the pilots’ strike, calling it a matter between the management and the pilots, maintained that the passenger inconvenience should be minimised.

Source: The Indian Express