SME Times News Bureau | 19 Apr, 2019
A day after Jet Airways temporarily suspended operations, the government
has strictly advised domestic airlines not to indulge in predatory
pricing and keep air fares affordable, a senior official said here on
Thursday.
After meeting with airlines representatives, Civil
Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said: "We have given a strict
advice to the airlines that they should not resort to predatory pricing
and as far as possible the prices have to be kept at affordable levels."
The official said that Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is closely monitoring the air fare situation.
Last
Tuesday the government had advised domestic airlines to keep air fares
in check after high prices were found on around 10 routes.
The
revelation that time was made as DGCA monitored 40 high-density routes.
The regulator compared current prices with those between March 7 and 14
and found high fares on 10 routes.
Besides, Kharola said that Air
India has already introduced rescue or special fares to Jet Airways
stranded passengers at international stations.
"We also suggested
to the airlines that sometimes for the help of stranded passengers,
they can have something called rescue fairs which is especially
applicable to international passengers whose flights have been
cancelled," Kharola said.
"Air India is the first airline to
respond to it and they have already introduced special fares for
passengers stranded at international destinations."
The
development comes a day after Jet Airways announced the temporary
suspension of all its flight services from Wednesday night as it failed
to secure interim funding for maintaining even bare minimum operations.
