Avg fare of carriers during peak seasons near min fare: DGCA

Aviation regulator DGCA has said that the average fare of domestic carriers during peak demand seasons was closer to the minimum fare.
The finding by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation comes as an apparent 'clean chit' to the domestic airlines, which face allegations of charging "exorbitant" fares during such seasons.
"The average fare is closer to the minimum fare being offered by the airlines indicating that most of the tickets sold by the airlines are not at exorbitant price," according to the findings of an analysis of fares during 2014 by the DGCA.
The regulator's findings come at a time when a section of Parliamentarians have been demanding capping of fares by the airlines, accusing them of forcing the flyers to pay through their noses for air travel during peak travel seasons as well as emergency journeys.

Even Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma, on several occasions, has expressed concerns over "high fares" charged by the airlines during such periods.
"The average airfare for all the scheduled domestic airlines is found to be almost linear which is due to the competition prevailing on the sectors," the survey said.

Besides, the revenue generated by the scheduled airlines in the highest fare bucket is minimal compared to that generated in remaining fare buckets, it said.
The period selected for the survey was -- January-March, April-June, July-September and October-December of last year to see the seasonal trend of airfare, the DGCA said.

The analysis of airfares on the sectors on which the survey was conducted included some high-occupancy markets such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
It also included other sectors like in the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Island, which have high occupancy and also payload, the DGCA said.
Sharma had recently said that "predatory pricing" by the airlines was a "big issue" for passengers and called for some regulations to arrest the trend.
"Predatory pricing by the airlines is a big issue. A large section of the public and even parliamentarians have raised the issue that the airlines charge Rs 30,000-40,000 for a ticket when a passengers has to travel in some emergency...In principle, I agree that there should be regulations (to tackle the issue)," he had said.

Besides, Parliamentarians cutting across party lines, have been raising concerns about the matter from time to time.