Airfare hike: Customer is king; will do whatever we can to make travel affordable, says aviation minister

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Thursday, July 25, promised to conduct an inquiry into allegations of an abrupt fare hike when MPs try to book tickets on Air Vistara airline, following complaints by MPs and a nudge by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Raising the issue during Question Hour in Lok Sabha through a supplementary question, DMK member Dayanidhi Maran alleged that whenever he tries to book a ticket on Air Vistara for the Chennai-Delhi route, initially it shows a price in the range of around Rs 25,000.

However, by the time he concludes the whole booking process, the fare goes up by two to three times more, he alleged. The DMK leader wondered whether some technology applied by TCS, a software giant belonging to the same Tata group, drives up the air fare.

Intervening in the discussion, Birla said he had received similar complaints from a few other MPs too, and the matter should be thoroughly investigated as the "money of the tickets goes from Parliament.".

At this, the minister replied, "We will get the matter inquired about.".

Parliament sources said the MPs are entitled to travel by business class.

Replying to another question, Naidu said that ever since he took over the charge of the civil aviation ministry, he has been trying to make air travel affordable for the common people.

However, he said, the airfare is market-driven, and lots of factors come into play while deciding the fare for any sector.

"Customer is king, and that is the priority of the ministry. We will do whatever we can to make air travel affordable," he said.

The minister also said that he will look into the allegations of high air fares during the holiday season on international routes.

"As far as regulation of airfare is concerned, the government does not regulate the fares set by airlines, Indian or foreign. The fares on any route are dependent on seasonality, holidays and festivals, the cost of aviation turbine fuel, competition, and other similar factors," the minister said.

Naidu said airline pricing runs at multiple levels (buckets or RBDs), which are in line with the practice being followed globally, and due to dynamic fare pricing, tickets bought in advance are much cheaper than those purchased near the travel date. He said that under the provisions of Rule 135(1) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, the airlines are free to fix tariffs, having regard to all relevant factors, including cost of operation, characteristics of services, generally prevailing tariffs, etc.

"DGCA's Tariff Monitoring Unit (TMU) ensures that the fares being charged by the airlines are as per the tariff established by the airlines. At present, there is no proposal in the ministry to intervene with the existing regulatory framework on airfare," he said.