The government on Wednesday announced appointment of a “Working Group on Regulatory Framework” under the recently-constituted Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council (CAEAC) that will examine “the existing system of passenger fare restructuring by all the scheduled domestic airlines and the manner in which the passenger fares are disclosed to the public ...”
With this move, the government has sent a strong signal to the scheduled domestic airlines that lack of transparency in fares will not be permitted. Airlines have automatic computerised systems that decide several levels of fares depending on the number of seats and the date of journey. It is expected that airlines will now have to come clean on how they decide fares, especially since the government has made it clear that predatory exorbitant spot-fare pricing will not be allowed.
The working group will be headed by the director general of civil aviation and will “recommend measures to enhance transparency in the disclosure of tariffs ...”. Efforts will also be made to increase consumer awareness. A member of an air-passenger association has also been made a member of the working group, signalling that protection of interests of passengers is a top priority. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel had indicated earlier that the government could petition the Competition Commission to foil any cartelisation by airlines in case exorbitant spot fares in the winter travel season were not lowered. Nevertheless, the Competition Commission could still probe any alleged cartelisation by airlines.