Air India on Friday came forward to address concerns over ever-soaring domestic air fares amid the widespread IndiGo cancellations.
In an X post, the airline wrote, “Air India & Air India Express clarify that, since 4 December, economy class airfares on non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism being applied by revenue management systems.”
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Screenshots ‘not technically capable of being capped’
The airline responded to viral screenshots showing extremely high last-minute fares on connecting itineraries. It said, “We are aware of screenshots of last-minute itineraries with one-stop or two-stop flights or a combination of economy and premium economy or business cabins taken from third-party platforms. It is not technically possible to cap all such permutations, but we are engaging such platforms to exercise oversight.”
IndiGo crisis: Hundreds of flights hit
With IndiGo cancelling hundreds of flights in the past five days due to crew shortages, Air India on Tuesday said it is working to add capacity to support stranded travellers and expedite baggage movement.
The fare for a one-way, one-stop SpiceJet ticket from Kolkata to Mumbai for December 6 neared ₹90,000, while an Air India fare for the Mumbai–Bhubaneswar route was listed at ₹84,485, according to PTI.
Following public concern over rising fares, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday issued a directive to all airlines to follow the government-prescribed fare caps “until the situation fully stabilises.”
