Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya again hits out on airfare regulation tactics

New Delhi : Kingfisher Airlines chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallya on Monday once again hit out at the regulatory bodies for trying to ?pressurize? the airlines to slash ticket prices.

Speaking out against the efforts to reduce high prices charged on tickets booked at short-notice, Mallya said, ?There is no case of capping airfare in a liberalised environment, be it at upper or lower band.?

?It is a function of demand and supply,? he said, talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Stating that it is ?not exploitation by the airlines?, Mallya said, ?Airlines are fighting for market share, so demand and supply has to be respected.?

He also blamed the media for ?sensationalising the fare issue?.

Mallya also asked the government to reduce taxation on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) instead so that this savings on taxation could be passed off to consumers.

He had on Saturday said Indian operators are following pricing that are followed across the world.

?There has been no unjust increase in airfares. Bandwidth pricing followed across the world. We too are following that. After all, airlines are commercial commodities,? Mallya had said.

Following stiff pressure from the government to bring down air fares, private airlines have decided to slash prices, reports said on Sunday.

Air fares have been brought down by 20-25 per cent after the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) intervention in this regard.

The decision to slash down the fares was taken at a meeting by DGCA?s chief Bharat Bhusan with chief executives of low-cost airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir on Saturday.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had on Friday said that the DGCA is unsatisfied with the inflated airfares 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% after Diwali.