26 November,2010 08:05 AM IST | | Bipin Kumar Singh
Warns Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in strongly-worded statement to airline companies
After giving two soft warnings to airlines for charging arbitrary fares from passengers, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel yesterday sent a strong message to airline companies warning them not to violate the price band and to face the music if they did.
The following statement issued by Patel was loud and clear in warning the airlines: "We will take action against airlines that violate the price band. This kind of predatory pricing cannot be justified and it cannot be allowed to continue.
In the past few weeks, airlines have been charging very exorbitant prices on most routes.
This is a phenomenon, which has been taken serious note of by the Ministry as well as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the regulatory body for airlines.
The aviation regulator has special powers, which can certainly be invoked if the airlines do not act responsibly in the days to come. Officials of the Ministry and the DGCA would meet soon to review the issue and continue monitoring the movement of airfares
Initial Warnings
His earlier two statements said:
1. This kind of exorbitant fares can simply not be allowed; we are going to take the strictest possible action.
2. DGCA has been serious about the issue regarding sudden fare escalation (by some scheduled Indian carriers), he further added that officials of the Ministry and the DGCA would meet soon to review the issue.u00a0
MiD DAY first reported the sharp rise in airfares ('Airfares go through the cloud', November 13). After a week MiD DAY revisited the fares on November 23 and found that they were the same.
After the aforementioned reports, DGCA issued a circular to the airline industry to ensure transparency in the fares.
The circular asked the airlines to furnish a copy of their route-wise tariffs across its network in various fare categories, in the same manner it is offered in the market, to DGCA on the first day of every calendar month.
