Airlines asked to maintain tariff transparency

New Delhi : The government on Monday cracked its whip on airlines that were obscurely fluctuating their fares and has directed them to maintain a “transparency in tariff”.

The airlines, most of whom were resorting to raising the fares exorbitantly on the last minute especially on prime routes over past few months, have been ordered to comply to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) new regulations by Wednesday and bring fares to a reasonable level.

The DGCA held meetings with the CEOs of the domestic airlines on Dec 4 and 6 and has reminded them to publish tariffs established by them on their websites or in daily newspapers.

In order to maintain transparency in tariff, which would enable predictability in so far as customers were concerned, all the scheduled domestic airlines have been directed to upload the route wise tariff across its network in various fare categories on airline websites.

The government also appreciated the up to 25 percent reduction in fares by the airlines in the last 48 hours.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had on Friday said that the DGCA is unsatisfied with the inflated air fares and that the airlines cannot charges fares at their will.

?The exorbitant hike in airfares has caused inconvenience to passengers. Now that the aviation sector is back on high growth track, corrective action must be taken immediately,? Patel said at a press conference.

?Airlines cannot charge fares at will,” he said.

Patel?s statement had come a day after he met DGCA officials and reviewed current airfares.

According to DGCA sources, fares of most airlines have shot up at least 25 percent after Diwali.