DGCA acts tough, orders airlines to upload tariff info

Aviation regulator DGCA has started cracking the whip on airlines after they resisted its move to bring in more transparency in fares.

On Monday, it directed all scheduled airlines to upload route-wise tariffs across their network in various fare categories commensurate with the date of purchase on their respective websites latest by 5pm on Wednesday.

So, from Wednesday evening, you can not only know route-wise air fares for a specific date, but also different fares for each day before the flight is due.

All airlines have agreed to the deadline, a DGCA statement said. The directive was issued shortly after top officials of the civil aviation ministry and the DGCA met representatives of full-service carriers Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher. No-frills carriers IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir had met the regulator on Saturday.

The directive implies that the airlines have to provide details of route-wise fares as well as details for each ‘fare bucket’. Aircraft seats are grouped into different categories, each at a distinct price. These categories are referred to as ‘fare buckets’.

All airlines were briefed about the provisions of Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, which deals with publishing of tariff established by them on their websites or in newspapers.
The DGCA action came after sudden and “inordinate surge” in air fares from November 15, particularly on the metro routes.

Following this, the DGCA had issued a directive on November 19 asking airlines to furnish a copy of established tariff route-wise across its network in various fare categories to the DGCA on every first day of the calendar month.