DGCA asks air carriers to show route-wise fares on their websites

Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday directed all Indian carriers to show route-wise and date-wise airfares on their websites by Wednesday evening and ensure transparency so that flyers do not feel cheated by high ticket prices.

A fresh directive was issued shortly after top officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA met representatives of full-service carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher.

DGCA had met officials of the nofrill carriers — IndiGo, Spicejet and GoAir — on Saturday after issuing a directive asking all carriers to explain the high fares they were charging.

In order to maintain transparency in tariff and enable predictability for customers, all scheduled domestic airlines have been directed to “upload the route wise tariff across its network in various fare categories commensurate with date of purchase on their respective websites, in addition to adhering to the directions issued on November 19”, the directive said.

All airlines have agreed to comply with the directive that has to be implemented “latest by 1700 hrs of December 8”, an official spokesperson said.

The directive implies that the airlines would have to not only provide details of route-wise fares but also detail them for each ‘fare bucket’ — Aircraft seats are grouped into different categories, each at a distinct price. These categories are referred to as ‘fare buckets’.

At the two meetings, all airlines were briefed about the provisions of Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, which deals with publishing of tariff established by them on their websites or in daily newspapers.

In view of the “sudden and inordinate surge” in airfares from November 15, particularly on the metro routes, all airlines were directed to bring tariffs to a reasonable level, the spokesperson said.

Following this, the DGCA had issued a directive on November 19 asking airlines to furnish a copy of established tariff route-wise across its network in various fare categories to the DGCA on the first day of every calendar month.

“The response of the airlines to the notice was not satisfactory and as the increase in tariff continued unabated, the DGCA commenced meetings with the CEOs of the established domestic airlines on December 4 and 6 in order to remedy the situation,” the spokesperson said.