Amid indications that there may be a further massive fare hike by domestic scheduled carriers, civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Thursday said that the government will petition the Competition Commission of India against cartelisation in case the airlines, that include low-cost carriers, insisted on charging very high fares from passengers and hiking fares even further. “The government may approach the Competition Commission,” Mr Patel told this newspaper.
The move comes even as airlines are said to be in favour of another massive fare hike by charging huge one-way fares in the peak winter tourist season that may be as high as `40,000 on long-distance domestic routes and about `10,000 on short-distance routes. Airlines have submitted their proposals on airfares to the DGCA, which will decide soon on the matter. The government has already warned airlines that action could be taken against them if they continue to charge unjustifiably high fares from passengers. Ministry sources said the DGCA would reject any such move by airlines to levy such exorbitant fares.
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