Airlines fall in line after ministry steps in, no exorbitant fares this Diwali

seasons and asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation to suggest ways to end this menace. Modi received representations from some Indians residing in the UAE on his visit - the Indians there pointed out that fares are being hiked by airlines during festivals like Onam, making it difficult for them to go home. The PM brought it up at a meeting held with ministry officials.

Modi's concern over high air fares was neither new nor unfounded. There has been a long drawn debate within the ministry about how to control last-minute steep fares on domestic routes. In fact, minister Sharma has pointed out fare regulation is necessary to dissuade airlines from indulging in what he called "predatory pricing". Sharma was referring to domestic concerns whereas Modi picked out the concerns raised by the Indian diaspora abroad on the same issue. Sharma's comments followed complaints from numerous members of parliament about steep last minute fares, specially flights to the north east region.
Sharma had earlier hinted that if airlines did not fall in line, he could ask state-owned Air India to reduce fares on high density routes, forcing private carriers to also lower fares. An earlier fare study conducted by the DGCA had also exonerated airlines since it found that less than 2 percent of all domestic fares were in the highest fare bucket. Last year, the ministry had been mulling a cap on lowest and highest fares an airline can charge on any domestic route but that proposal was shelved after much internal discussion.