New Delhi: The freedom of airlines to charge public at their whim may soon be over with the Aviation Ministry planning to announce a more rationalised fare structure in a fortnight and keep a strict vigil on sudden and unexpected rise in airfare.
In the long run, the Ministry is also planning to have a regulatory mechanism to monitor fares, implying the demand and supply mechanism to determine airfares may also come to an end.
The move comes in the wake of an exorbitant rise in airfares during Diwali this year. On Diwali-eve, the economy class tickets from Mumbai to Kolkata went up between Rs 35,000 and Rs 43,000, while business class tickets were sold for as high as Rs 60,000.
Similar problems were faced in almost all metro routes prompting Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to order an inquiry into the matter. Now, the Ministry is planning to tighten the regulatory mechanism to monitor fares.
“Our focus right now is to maintain and rationalise the fares. This we are going to announce in the next fortnight,” Aviation Secretary K N Srivastava told Deccan Herald.
28/11/12 B S Arun & Annapurna Singh/Deccan Herald
