Govt. right in intervening on airfare surge: Akasa Air

The government is right in intervening over the issue of price gouging by airlines, says Akasa Air co-founder, Vinay Dube, days after a government advisory to airlines in the aftermath of the train crash in Odisha.

The government is right in intervening over the issue of price gouging by airlines, says Akasa Air founder, Vinay Dube, days after a government advisory to airlines in the aftermath of the train crash in Odisha.

Also read: India has one of the best airfare regimes; there should be no ‘gouging’: Akasa Air CEO

“The Civil Aviation Ministry has an excellent point in terms of gouging. They want to make sure that there is no gouging going on in pockets like [for travel to] Bhubaneswar. I fully support it. [They are saying] don’t take advantage as people have to fly [when train routes are affected], don’t take advantage that you have a monopoly on a particular route,” Akasa Air founder and CEO, Vinay Dube, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the IATA’s World Air Transport Summit in Istanbul.

On Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation told airlines to “self-monitor” airfares during a calamity and on select routes that have witnessed surge pricing following GoFirst’s exit since it suspended flights last month.

However, the average airfares are among the most competitive offered by Indian airlines, the CEO asserted. “The airfares on an average in India, which are equivalent to USD 45 or 50, are the most customer-friendly in the world in any kind of sizeable aviation economy. The Indian consumer on an average has one of the best airfare regimes you can find anywhere in the world,” he said.

Various airline bosses explain that while the ticket prices are determined through an algorithm automatically by a software, a sudden surge in special circumstances can be prevented by manual intervention or programming anti-gouging techniques into the software.