The entire Rajya Sabha on Wednesday protested against arbitrary fares charged by private airlines and Air India and called for setting up a regulatory body to check this practice. Sharing the members’ concern, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien termed it as “extortion” and said tickets were sold at “exorbitant” rates during festival season.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Rajeev Shukla (Congress) said airlines were fixing fares “arbitrarily” and their tickets were priced exorbitantly and called for an airfare regulatory authority to regulate the fares charged by private airlines.
Accusing the airlines of not passing on the benefit of the slump in jet fuel (ATF) prices to passengers, Shukla said that reduction in prices of ATF, which made up for 33 per cent of the operating cost of an airline, should have translated into lower air ticket prices for the passengers, but has not.
Cutting across party lines, all members associated themselves with Shukla’s observations with Kurien terming it as “extortion.” He said it is an important issue and the government should take note of and take some action. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the concerns of the House would be conveyed to the Civil Aviation Minister.