Centre asks airlines to provide fare data amid probe against IndiGo | Here's why

New Delhi: Looking to address the growing concerns over the increase in fare hikes recently, the Centre has asked for comprehensive pricing data from several airlines. This has been done to assist the antitrust probe against IndiGo.

Step taken due to the chaos in airports last month

The step has been taken due to chaos across airports in December last year, due to large-scale flight cancellations or delays by IndiGo across the country. As per reports, authorities are trying to find out whether IndiGo inflated the air tickets after canceling nearly 4,500 flights in last December.

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IndiGo had cancelled thousands of flights last month. In its explanation, IndiGo said that a shortage of pilots forced it to cancel or delay flight services. Because of this, lakhs of passengers remained stranded in airports for days.

Authorities ask airlines to submit average fare of last month

For its ongoing probe, the authorities have asked IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, Akasa Air, and Air India Express to submit their fare records. An email was sent to these airlines on January 1 this year. As per it, these airlines have been asked to provide details of the average airfare between December 1 and December 15 on all routes.

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According to officials, while the data was requested from several airlines, there is no proof that the case has been widened to check other lines. The probe remained focused on IndiGo. The charges include cancelling the flights and then offering seats at huge prices. The air fares have been asked to probe whether IndiGo’s pricing amounted to market abuse, News 18 reported. It may be noted that during the crisis, airfares of some of the flights surged to such an extent that the government was forced to intervene and impose temporary caps.

What led to crisis in December?

The crisis last month was linked to the implementation of new FDTL rules, which came into force on November 1 last year. The rule increased mandatory rest periods for pilots and limited night-time flying duties.