Air India rolls out new fares after govt order on price caps amid IndiGo crisis
IndiGo crisis: While Air India Express has completed the implementation of revised fares across its systems, Air India would do the same, Air India said.
The Air India airlines on Monday said it has begun the roll out of new fares, complying with a direction from the government to all airlines to monitor their flight ticket prices. The government order was issued after it took note of airlines charging hefty prices for flights amid mass cancellations of several IndiGo flights over the past few days.
In a statement issued after midnight, Air India said that while Air India Express has completed the implementation of revised fares across its systems, Air India would also be applying the fare caps over the next few hours.
“As the process involves third-party system dependencies, a phased rollout is required to ensure accuracy and stability without disrupting guest bookings,” the statement read.
Not only has the airline capped its flight ticket prices, it has also announced that passengers who have already booked Air India flights in Economy Class during the transition period at prices above the prescribed caps can get refunded for the difference amount.
The IndiGo airlines has been witnessing flight disruptions for six days now, with cancellations crossing 1,000 on Friday. As stranded passengers rushed to book alternate flights, they saw a big jump in airfares of other airlines, like Akasa Air, Air India and SpiceJet.
Amid surging airfares adding to passenger woes, the civil aviation ministry invoked its regulatory powers, issuing an official directive to all airlines to monitor airfares.
“These caps will remain in force until the situation fully stabilises. The objective of this directive is to maintain pricing discipline in the market, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel — including senior citizens, students, and patients — are not subjected to financial hardship during this period,” the ministry said in a press release Saturday.
Meanwhile, IndiGo operations are slowly stabilising as the number of cancellations reduced on Sunday. Besides, as directed by the government, the airline has issued refunds worth more than ₹610 crore to all affected passengers.
