Aviation Ministry to meet airlines, rationalise ticket cancellation charges

P S Kharola was drawn to the "high cancellation charges levied by the private airlines" in India.

The Civil Aviation Ministry will hold a meeting with airlines to consider rationalisation of ticket cancellation charges, according to a parliamentary standing committee report tabled in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Civil Aviation Secretary P S Kharola informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture about the meeting when his attention was drawn to the "high cancellation charges levied by the private airlines" in India.

As flight operations are getting curtailed drastically across the world due to coronavirus pandemic, passengers have been complaining on social media about the high cancellation charges that the airlines are levying.

The report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on "demands for grants (2020-21) of Ministry of Civil Aviation" was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

"There is no uniformity in the cancellation charges levied by the airlines," stated the report of the committee chaired by BJP MP T G Venkatesh.

"The committee lends it support to the demand of rationalising the cancellation charges and is of the view that the airlines may be persuaded to restrict not more than 50 per cent of the base fare as cancellation charges. The tax and fuel surcharge collected should be refunded to the passengers on cancellation of tickets," the report added.

It is hoped that the Ministry of Aviation would be able to persuade the airlines for such rationalisation in the interest of the passengers, the report noted.

"The committee's attention was drawn towards the high cancellation charges levied by the private airlines operating in this country. On this issue, the Secretary (Kharola) responded that through the ministry has no power to give any direction to private airlines, he would hold a meeting with all the airlines to consider rationalizing the cancellation charges," the report stated.