Govt tells airlines to put up all-inclusive fares

New Delhi: The government on Thursday issued a three-point directive to airlines, which had a day earlier put their route-wise fare ranges in an extremely confusing manner. The fare charts made public can be deciphered only by travel industry honchos and not the common traveller. Airlines have now been asked to issue all-inclusive and reasonable fares in a consumer-friendly manner, something that only Air India (domestic) has done.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also found that fares on certain sectors of some airlines are higher beyond reasonable limit when compared to the prices offered by other carriers on those routes. The other yardstick being used to decide reasonableness will be the fares prevalent same period last year. "A 10-35% hike is understandable due to increased demand but fares can't double or triple in a year. We do not desire to interfere in setting fares but we can't allow exploiting of passengers through exorbitant fares," said an official.
Also, the government wants the plethora of information on fare range charts to be limited to only things useful for passengers. This could mean removing distance between origin and destination while indicating if a particular flight involves change of aircraft through a transit point.
Airlines have to inform the men behind the drive to rein in galloping spot fares — aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi and DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan — by Friday evening on how fast these changes would come about. All inclusive or consolidated fare means the sum of basic fare, fuel and congestion surcharge along with all other fee, airport charges and service tax.
10/12/10 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2010