Centre imposes caps on airfares as IndiGo flight disruptions continue for fifth day

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday imposed temporary caps on airline ticket fares as IndiGo’s domestic operations remained disrupted for the fifth consecutive day.

The ministry said that any deviation from the prescribed norms would attract “immediate corrective action in the larger public interest”.

It also directed IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds without delay and mandated that the refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights be completed by 8 pm on Sunday.

IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share, cancelled more than 400 flights across four major airports on Saturday, PTI reported.

A day earlier, it had cancelled all domestic flights from Delhi till midnight. Services in other cities were also affected, leaving passengers stranded at airports.

The reduction in IndiGo’s capacity has pushed up domestic airfares across carriers.

On Saturday, the ministry said that it has taken serious note of concerns about “unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines” during the ongoing disruption”.

“In order to protect passengers from any form of opportunistic pricing, the ministry has invoked its regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes,” the ministry said in a statement.

The fare caps will be in place until the situation stabilises, it added.

The ministry also said that IndiGo had been instructed to set up dedicated...

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