Director General of Civil Aviation chief EK Bharat Bhushan today met CEOs of scheduled domestic airlines and expressed his concerns on the exponential increase in airfares of certain airlines on various domestic sectors.
The DGCA noted that the increase in average airfare was very high as ATF prices have gone up by only 16 percent in June 2012 year-on-year basis compared to June 2011.
High fares. Reuters
The airline regulator observed that many airlines open the ticket price on a higher inventory and brings it down when the date of departure approaches leading to many passengers paying more who had bought their tickets earlier.
There is also a huge variation in the highest airfare by different carriers on the same sector, the DGCA said.
The DGCA also directed the airlines to remove the discrepancies in a time bound manner.
The airlines were advised to relook on the route-wise airfares offered in the highest fare bucket and attempt be made that maximum airfares are reasonable.
