No-fly zone

Here’s a creative way of getting round a regulator’s advisory. Last week the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a directive to travel portals saying they could not publish air fares without specifying the airline (a practice known as “opaque air fares”). The objective of the directive was, of course, to insulate passengers from unwittingly booking a journey with troubled Kingfisher Airlines, which has been cancelling flights at random. So travel portals decided to interpret the directive in that light and continue with opaque air fares but with an important disclaimer: “These fares are not on Kingfisher Airlines”.