Airlines can go on fleecing flyers, Govt tells House

The Government on Tuesday said that there was no proposal and plans to privatise some of the major airports in the country including Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad etc. “However, the Government intends to undertake the Operation, Management and Development of Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP). Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued Request for Qualification documents on 30.12.2014,” said Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Dr Mahesh Sharma in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister also referring to the issue of excessive ticket pricing by private airlines said, “The Government is not considering the formulation of a mechanism for the capping of economy and business class airfares, to curb the predatory pricing of passenger tickets by airlines.  Air fares are not regulated by the Government. Airlines are free to fix tariff under the provision of Sub-rule (1) of Rule 135, Aircraft Rules 1937 having regard to relevant factors, including the cost of operation, characteristic of services, reasonable profit and the generally prevailing tariff.”

Regarding development of airports the minister said: “The Government has granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 13 projects: Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Sindhudurg and Shirdi in Maharashtra, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hassan and Shimoga in Karnataka, Kannur in Kerala, Dabra in Gwalior, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Karaikal in Pudducherry.