New Delhi, Aug 31 : There is no cap on the price of tickets to travel from August 31 and airlines will have a lot of flexibility in fixing the cost of airfares.However, experts have said that the competition among airlines could lead to better deals for travelers and a lot of airlines could offer discounts in line with requirements.
Expert in aviation Harshvardhan stated: “The move will give flexibility to airlines in choosing air fares, and airlines are able to charge according to their own policies.The cap on airfares was geared toward the higher end.A new airline has sprung up and competition is brewing in the industry.To attract customers certain companies are expected to come out with deals.”
A source from the industry stated that airlines will be able to determine airfare prices depending on market conditions.They may increase prices during the festive season since more expensive fares will increase the cost of travel, he said.
The previous time the Civil Aviation Ministry had said that following a an examination of the state of Scheduled Domestic Operations vis-a-vis the demand of passengers to travel by air, it was taken up the decision to end the fare bands which are announced from time to time about the prices with effective from August 31.
The Ministry had set lower and higher limits on air travel after the return of services in May 2020 following the initial two-month lockdown across the nation to stop the spread of Covid-19.After that, the limits were eased in the order of a gradual approach according to the increase in the flow of air travel in the country.
The lower limits were conceived to provide relief to airlines that were struggling following the outbreak of Covid-19.
In addition the upper limits on airfares were set so that travellers don’t need to pay a huge amount for flights.
Prior to that, discussions on the removal of the fare bands for domestic flights were held with the key participants, including the government authorities and airlines.
The airlines were of the view that the removal of the price caps is essential for full return of domestic airline traffic.
kvm/vd
