Former Finance Minister and prominent Congressman P Chidambaram asked on Sunday to maintain price restraint till the duopoly in the civil aviation industry persists, one day after the government imposed a restriction on prices in response to IndiGo flight delays.
Additionally, he accused the government of being “clueless and powerless” in the IndiGo scandal.
The crisis-affected Air India has captured an additional 25% of the market, while IndiGo has between 65 and 70% of the market. Due to new guidelines for pilot fatigue management, IndiGo has had to cancel a lot of flights in recent days.
Chidambaram expressed his “gladness” at the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s “woken up at last” decision to restrict economy class fares. The Ministry issued the directives on Saturday as airlines raised fares to the maximum.
“Fare limitations on Economy Class must continue to be in place as long as the airline industry is a duopoly. Price control is the only option to safeguard the public interest in the absence of strong competition. He stated on ‘X’ that “the vast majority of the passengers must be safeguarded.”
He claimed in a another post that the “meltdown” of Indigo operations and the mayhem in airports around the nation indicate a “major failure” on the part of the Ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the airline management, and the whole government.
January 2024 saw the announcement of the new (Flight Duty Time Limitations) Rules. However, the government has neglected to direct the airline to modify its operations to comply with the new regulations throughout the last 23 months. The DGCA and MoCA bear full responsibility. He said, “The administration was confused and powerless when the situation began and worsened, and finally capitulated.”
