To give more pricing flexibility to the airlines, the Centre has expanded the airfare cap, sources said on Thursday. Accordingly, the lower fare band has been increased by 10 per cent, while the upper cap has been raised by 30 per cent. This means that passengers will have to spend more money for air travel from now.
These new limits would remain “in force up to March 31, 2021, or until further orders”, the ministry said in its order on Thursday.
While announcing the resumption of scheduled domestic flights on May 21 last year, the ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration.
The first such band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. The lower limit for the first band was increased on Thursday from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200. The upper limit in this band was set at Rs 7,800, which was Rs 6,000 earlier.
The subsequent bands are for flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes.
The fresh lower and upper limits set by the ministry for these bands on Thursday were: Rs 2,800 – Rs 9,800, Rs 3,300 – Rs 11,700, Rs 3,900 – Rs 13,000, Rs 5,000 – Rs 16,900, Rs 6,100 – Rs 20,400 and Rs 7,200 – Rs 24,200, respectively.
Interestingly, the move comes after consistent rise in domestic passenger numbers.
Recently, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Parliament said the fixed minimum and maximum air fare structure for the domestic sector will be removed once passenger traffic reaches per-Covid levels.
Under the fare structure, air routes are divided into seven sections based on travel time. Each section has its minimum and maximum fares.
Accordingly, Delhi-Mumbai ticket price has been fixed at Rs 3,500-Rs 10,000. Currently, the airlines can operate up to 80 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity.