E-Paper
Will domestic flight tickets be cheaper from August 31?
In May 2020, the Centre had imposed lower and upper limits on domestic airfares after air travel resumed after the Covid-19 lockdown. The government had allowed 100 per cent capacity in October last year, but the pricing regulation continued.
The Centre is set to remove the price caps from domestic airfares from August 31, thereby giving air carriers flexibility on passenger fares. Earlier this month, the civil aviation ministry had informed that the limits imposed on domestic airfares will be removed from August 31.
The ministry in an August 10 order had stated, "After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel...it has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from August 31, 2022".
It means that since there are no price caps, the airlines can charge as per their policies. The air carriers may offer discounts on flight ticket prices to woo more customers. Earlier, the air carriers could not offer discounts because there were lower and upper price caps on the domestic airfares imposed by the government.
“The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel. Stabilisation has set in & we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future,” civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had tweeted on August 10.
The aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices have come down in the past few weeks after jumping to record levels due to the Ukraine war, Mint reported.
In May 2020, the Centre had imposed lower and upper limits on domestic airfares after air travel resumed after the Covid-19 lockdown. The government had allowed 100 per cent capacity in October last year, but the pricing regulation continued.
The lower caps were meant for financially weaker airlines and the upper caps meant to protect passengers from exorbitant ticket prices.
