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A plea in SC is asking tough questions about air travel costs. Rightly so.
As the cracks in India’s aviation edifice become clearer, the demand for regulation to control charges, monopoly power mount.
On August 11, a frequent flier and social activist S Laxminarayan filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking regulatory guidelines to check the unpredictable fluctuations in air fares and the ancillary charges levied by private airlines. Laxminarayan argued that air travel, which was once a luxury is now an essential service and has been classified as one. In a 140-page document, the petitioner sought government intervention in what the writ described as the “unregulated, opaque and exploitative conduct of airlines”.
As it turns out, discontent against airline pricing is not specific to India. A recent US Senate subcommittee report titled ‘The Sky’s the Limit’, created an uproar in the country. The report -- focussed on the airline industry’s tendency to “unbundle” as many charges as possible in a way that these ancillary fees have become a critical revenue stream -- criticises carriers for loading flyers with new charges, which are added to ticket costs.
So be it an assigned seat, food, water, check in baggage - virtually anything that can be charged has been levied. According to this report, this strategy, known as “unbundling”, has spread to almost every airline in the industry with “ancillary fees” having become a vital revenue stream. According to the report, unbundling has “insidiously raised the cost” of flying for consumers, who now face additional charges to fly with carry-on or checked bags or even to sit next to their minor children.
The Senate report argued that airlines like United, Delta, Spirit, Frontier and American Airlines have generated billions of dollars in revenue from ancillary fees while travellers confront more and increasingly complex fees and fewer options for avoiding them, obscuring the total cost of travel. Quoting figures, the report argued that five airlines collectively earned $12.4 billion in revenue from seat fees between 2018 and 2023 and that last year for the first time United earned $1.3 billion in seat fees, more than the $1.2 billion it earned from checked bag fees.
Even as the Supreme Court started its hearings on the petition filed by Laxminarayan, the reality unfolded in a nightmare when a monumental lapse on the part of India’s largest airline led to an embarrassing collapse of the aviation ecosystem. Although IndiGo quickly recovered from its collapse, it led to a series of internal and external investigations that the airline is still reeling under.
A probe and rap by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), according to aviation experts, let the airline off much lighter than expected. An internal board investigation is ongoing. Then, last week IndiGo shares took a beating after the announcement that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe on the airline’s monopolistic position.
Regulate, regulate, regulate: Arguments in favour
Even before the December turbulence, fliers had long voiced their concerns over the charges levied and variations in air fares in India, especially after the pandemic.
The writ petition raises many points brought up by fliers earlier. It argues that air travel is now an essential service and is classified as such under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1981. Air travel becomes critical during many situations including medical emergencies. And, in several of such situations, the writ argues, there is no alternative as rail or road travel are not possible due to non-availability or are rendered useless due to the sheer time that these might require.
During public emergencies, air travel is the only option available and therefore it is incumbent on the state to protect fliers from the arbitrary fare hikes that happen in such situations. The document argues that in such situations allowing the airlines to hike fares unchecked is not only “unconscionable” but also a violation of specific articles of the Indian Constitution.
The writ points to two recent instances in detail. First, air fares to Prayagraj sky rocketed during the Maha Kumbh in 2025, amounting to what the petition calls “profiteering on faith”, with fares from a city like Hyderabad costing upwards of ₹1 lakh for a one-way ticket. The writ points out that DGCA’s “belated intervention came only after mass outrage” and that even then no penalties were imposed and the “airlines continued to dictate fares beyond reasonable thresholds, proving the ineffectiveness of fare supervision mechanisms”.
The second instance is the exorbitant fares charged by airlines after the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April when airfares from Srinagar to Delhi rose to ₹65,000 versus the usual rates of between ₹6,000-8,000 for a one-way ticket with similar spikes to Mumbai, Bengaluru and other cities. The writ argues that documented fare surges of “four to six times” the usual rate within a matter of a few hours are possible due to the “opaque, algorithm-driven pricing mechanisms adopted by airlines”.
The same pattern with air fare surges repeated itself in December 2025 when IndiGo failed to meet the flight duty timing limitation guidelines ordered by the court, resulting in mass cancellations and delays and financial losses for those affected.
Ancillary and other charges
What has been a cause of concern for fliers is the ancillary and other charges including baggage fees and ad hoc levies like fuel surcharges and that many argue are used by the private airlines to bolster their revenues.
The writ argues that all the airlines have over the years unilaterally reduced the free check in baggage allowance from 25kg to 15kg, a reduction of 40% from the earlier entitlement, thereby “converting what was earlier a part of the ticketed service into a new revenue stream”. It is also argues that the policy of permitting only one piece of check in luggage combined with an absence of any rebate or discount to those with only hand luggage demonstrates the “arbitrary and discriminatory nature of the measure”.
International fliers have also faced arbitrary and exorbitant excess baggage charges. Andrew Piers, a Bengaluru based fashion designer who recently flew to Phuket for a fashion shoot with 30kg of excess baggage paid USD 500 for an extra piece while the return ticket on IndiGo was USD 210, making the baggage more expensive than flying up and down. “I often have an extra piece of luggage as it is necessary for trade shows and I’ve never paid more than USD 250 for an extra piece barring on IndiGo, which to me amounts to daylight robbery,” Piers said.
When asked, an IndiGo spokesperson said that the charges were correct and “as per industry standards”. She added that the air fare is dynamic and can be purchased during discounts or at lower prices when booked way in advance but that extra baggage cost is fixed per unit.
The practice of airlines’ charging for seat selection has been a simmering controversy as well. Earlier, only seats that had extra space -- like the first row or emergency -- were chargeable but of late IndiGo and the others following its lead, have started charging ₹450 and above for any aisle or window seat on the aircraft, leaving only middle seats to be assigned freely. In several cases, families with young children travelling together are told they will have to pay extra to be seated together on the flight, something that was taken for granted earlier.
This latest strategy has not gone down very well with passengers, who have alleged that this is tantamount to fleecing. Almost equally galling is the strategy of combining the sale of food and beverage items on board, which many argue amounts to coercion.
Airlines’ worst nightmare and the way ahead
Airlines are wary of any kind of fare regulation since they argue that their whole business model is based on free pricing as determined by demand and supply. Dynamic pricing, they argue, is essential to managing the high volatility of operational costs and ensuring the financial sustainability of a notoriously low-margin sector. The global airline industry remains one of the lowest-margin sectors, with an expected net profit margin of only 3.9% in 2026.
Airlines argue that price caps during peak periods would prevent them from recovering costs incurred during low-demand seasons or covering sudden spikes in expenses such as fuel and labour. Moreover, the way regulators in India have evolved, industry confidence in their abilities remains low. “There is a tendency to over regulate in India, stepping in when not required or over extending into matters that go beyond the scope” says a former Competition Commission of India (CCI) head.
The larger point he says that needs looking into is whether the airline’s actions -- as and when they arise or become a point of contention -- are justified. “Without monitoring, even the most disciplined student can run amok”, says a former civil aviation ministry official. 2025 all but revealed the cracks in particular for the users of air services. It is now incumbent on policy makers to find solutions.
