Airlines will provide refunds for cancelled travel during the nationwide lockdown on tickets booked in advance, the Centre has proposed in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, reiterating that similar returns will be processed for bookings made during the period of curbs.
On June 12, the apex court, while hearing a plea filed by NGO Pravasi Legal Cell, asked the Centre, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airlines to discuss full refunds of tickets for domestic and international flights that were cancelled due to the travel restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
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In the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court after the deliberations, the civil aviation ministry and DGCA have proposed that all passengers will be entitled to refund of their tickets booked before March 25 within 15 days.
“If the tickets have been booked during the first lockdown period, that is March 25, to April 14, 2020 for the journeys to be undertaken in both first and second lockdown period that is from March 25 to May 3, 2020, in all such cases, full refund shall be given by the airlines immediately (this is being mandated vide MoCA’s OM dated April 16, 2020 as the airlines were not supposed to book such tickets),” said the affidavit, seen by HT.
“For all other cases, the airlines shall make all endeavors to refund the collected amount to the passenger within 15 days.”
{{/usCountry}}“For all other cases, the airlines shall make all endeavors to refund the collected amount to the passenger within 15 days.”
{{/usCountry}}The scheme also said that if an airline is not in a financial position to pay immediately, the fare amount shall be kept in a “credit shell” to be availed by the passenger for travel by the same airline on any route before March 31, 2021. This option is not available to foreign carriers, who must refund the amount within 15 days, according to the proposal.
If the passenger does not wish to travel, the credit shell can be transferred to another person, it added. If the amount is unused, interest will accrue every month on this amount and the same is to be refunded in full after March 31, 2021, according to the proposal.
A notification by DGCA from April 16 previously referred to full refund of tickets booked during the lockdown period. However, people who booked tickets prior to this date had approached the Supreme Court seeking refunds. On June 12, the court directed the Centre to find a solution after consulting airline operators and travel agents. A three-judge bench headed by justice Ashok Bhushan will consider the Centre’s affidavit when it takes up the petitions on September 9.
In an interview to HT on May 7, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said that his ministry had issued a directive to airlines to reimburse passengers who had booked tickets during the lockdown period. He said the government will need to look at the interest of the passengers primarily, but also look at the situation of the airlines.
Advocate Jose Abraham, who is representing Pravasi Legal Cell, told HT: “Almost 95% of petitioners before the court had booked tickets before the lockdown started. The April 16 notification of DGCA was of no consequence to us. Even the credit shell proposed under it contained rigid terms. The present solution of the DGCA has balanced the interests of passengers by protecting their money and allowed flexible terms on credit shell.”
Officials of the civil aviation ministry and DGCA held two rounds of discussions with airline operators on July 2 and 8 before finalising the proposal. The affidavit stated that non-refund of fares and creating of involuntary credit shell by airlines was a clear violation of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) and passenger charter.
“Any such enforcement action would further restrict/reduce their (airline) operations and thus any such enforcement action may further jeopardize the possibilities of generation of cash by the airline which can further adversely affect/delay the refund cycle,” the affidavit said.
This scheme will be applicable to Indian carriers who are liable for refund on all domestic and international routes. Even for tickets booked through travel agents, the credit shell will be in the name of the passenger and the refunds, if any, will be transferred by the travel agent to the passengers.
“The above proposal is formulated by the respondent (Centre) as an exception keeping in view the precipitating problems during Covid-19 pandemic and is without prejudice to the regulatory framework as provided in the CARs referred to above,” the affidavit said.
Requests for comments from SpiceJet, Vistara and IndiGo remained unanswered till the time of going to print.
A spokesperson for MakeMyTrip said: “As an intermediary, we have been passing on the refunds to our customers from the airlines in the manner as has been issued by them — be it cash refunds or credit shell and we will continue to do the same. As far as this affidavit is concerned, we will only be able to comment on it after going through the same.”