Fare hike: DGCA asks airlines tough questions

“The airlines have been asked to furnish detailed information regarding the airfare hikes along with a detailed justification,latest by February 14,2009,” a civil aviation ministry statement said. If found guilty of unfair practices,airlines can be asked to shell out as much as double the amount they gained by hiking fares.

DGCA came down on the current practice followed by several airlines where the total fares displayed on their respective websites comprise components such as basic fare,fuel surcharge,congestion charge and passenger service fee. These sub-components are loosely labelled as taxes. “This aspect gives an impression to the travelling public that high airfares are due to government taxes,” DGCA said in the letter.

Commenting on the recent price hike by airlines,the DGCA said it was not aware of the reasons for this simultaneous hike,specifically at a time when the aviation fuel prices,effective from February 1,2009 onwards,were at the level that they were in 2005. “As such,the DGCA felt that there appeared to be no rationale for increasing the airfares,” said civil aviation ministry in a statement.