Centre imposes distance-based airfare caps of up to Rs 18,000 amid IndiGo flight disruptions

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday imposed distance-based fare caps, going up to Rs 18,000 on the longest routes, amid continued disruptions in IndiGo's operations and a sharp spike in ticket prices.

The cap takes immediate effect and will remain in force until fares stabilise or the government reviews the situation, the ministry said.

Under the notified limits, airlines can charge a maximum fare of Rs 7,500 for routes up to 500 km, Rs 12,000 for routes between 500 km and 1,000 km, Rs 15,000 for those between 1,000 km and 1,500 km, and Rs 18,000 for distances above 1,500 km. These limits exclude user development fee, passenger service fee and taxes.

The ministry said that the ceiling on airfares will apply only to economy-class tickets and will not cover business-class or UDAN flights. UDAN flights are government-supported regional services under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik scheme that connect smaller or remote airports with capped, affordable fares on select seats.

Air travel has been hit since Tuesday, when a shortage of pilots and crew forced IndiGo to cancel and delay hundreds of flights, pushing fares on several routes to unprecedented levels.

In the last few days, one-way economy fares saw a steep rise, with prices on some routes surging above Rs 1 lakh. On Friday, a Delhi-Bhopal flight was priced at around Rs 1.32 lakh, compared to the usual Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000.

The only Mumbai-Delhi flight available was quoting Rs 51,860 per passenger, while the sole Delhi-Mumbai service showed seats at Rs 48,972. On the Delhi-Bengaluru sector, fares touched around Rs 40,000, and Bengaluru-Delhi flights were priced at nearly Rs 70,000.

On Saturday, the ministry said that airlines must not exceed the notified fare caps and should maintain ticket availability across all fare buckets.

It added that carriers may need to increase capacity on routes seeing a surge in demand.

Airlines have also been advised to avoid steep fare hikes on sectors affected by cancellations and to offer maximum possible assistance to stranded passengers, including alternate flight options where feasible.

The disruption in IndiGo's operations began on Tuesday after the airline faced a shortage of pilots and crew, having failed to adequately adjust its roster to comply with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's revised duty and rest requirements that came into force on November 1.

The norms include a provision which states “no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest”.

The revised rostering rules were issued in January 2024 to address concerns about pilot fatigue and were meant to take effect on June 1.

However, airlines asked for a delayed implementation because of staffing shortages and operational challenges, and the key changes were eventually implemented on November 1.

As IndiGo struggled to meet the new requirements, it was unable to staff enough flights, resulting in widespread cancellations and delays through the week.

On Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation withdrew its instruction on weekly rest for crew members, saying the provision needed to be reviewed in light of the disruptions and requests from airlines to ensure continuity and stability of operations.

IndiGo, India's largest airline by market share, cancelled more than 800 flights across four major airports on Saturday, PTI reported.

A day earlier, it had cancelled all domestic flights from Delhi till midnight. Services in other cities were also affected, leaving passengers stranded at airports.

Source: Scroll
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