The civil aviation ministry and the director-general of civil aviation have done well to come to the rescue of passengers who purchase tickets at the last minute. The fares quoted by various airlines for this category range from `27,000 for economy class to `40,000 for executive class. This makes it cheaper to fly to London or Paris than Mumbai-Delhi. This situation is something akin to the pre-economic liberalisation days when the then Indian Airlines had the monopoly and there was a huge waiting period for tickets. One old story goes that it was easier to get a ticket to Chennai from Singapore so in dire need people would fly to Singapore from where there would fly to Chennai. What is really pernicious are the games played by some airlines at the airline booking counter. They tell a desperate last-minute passenger that the aircraft is full and extort a huge price. When the hapless passenger gets into the aircraft he or she finds it half empty and realises that s/he has been fleeced. There is no doubt that there are many malpractices during peak season even among travel agents. The latter corner tickets and then sell them at a huge premium at the last minute. It is these practices that the DGCA and the civil aviation ministry need to deal with severely. One airline chief has defended differential pricing, which depends on the time of day the ticket is booked, the number of days prior to the journey and last-minute booking, as a practice followed worldwide. It is true that this is the practice. But what is obnoxious is when the passenger is cheated.
The low-cost airlines, in particular, are the culprits in this game at present. During the recession both the low-cost and the legacy airlines (regular airlines) had suffered huge losses. The legacy airlines had brought down fares to just above the pricing of the low-cost carriers. Now that the recession is over they are trying to make up their losses. Some of them are overly greedy, especially some low-cost airlines which are in a tearing hurry to make up losses and charge even more than what the legacy carriers do. These practices need curbing. The airlines are otherwise fair about fares charged on tickets booked a month in advance, or even earlier.
Finally, pricing is a creature of demand and supply. Airline sources say there is a drop in seat and flight availability due to various factors. For instance, the domestic airlines are flying abroad at the cost of cutting domestic flights. If this is true, then it is the civil aviation ministry and DGCA that need to look into why there is a shortage of aircraft. During the recession many airlines had cut down on aircraft purchase. It is incumbent on both the ministry and the DGCA to look into the situation on the ground and see if capacity is keeping pace with demand. The hype created over the `40,000 fare is uncalled for and there is something inexplicable about it. There is a popular view that this hullabaloo is being created to divert attention from issues like corruption in high places and several other more important issues. The unfair pricing could have been resolved by the DGCA and civil aviation minister sitting down with the airline representatives and taking stock of whether additional capacity has been created and ensuring there is no cartelisation. Once this is in place, the issue of price will be resolved on its own.