The Centre has formed a dedicated ‘Air Sewa’ cell to “properly as well as promptly” handle passenger complaints regarding high airfares, sources told businessline.

The specialised cell, sources said, has been formed under the ‘Air Sewa’ division that operates a web portal and a mobile app.

Accordingly, the portal and the app provide an integrated common platform on which air passengers lodge their grievances against all major stakeholders in the aviation sector, including airlines.

Major issues

On average, an air passenger faces issues such as flight delays, problems with refunds, long queues, inadequate facilities at airports, and complaints of lost baggage.

“Earlier, all complaints were bunched up together; however, now airfare-specific complaints will have a separate unit within the ‘Air Sewa’ division,” sources said.

“Complaints on the fluctuations in airfares will be looked at by this cell, which will in turn further investigate the matter by using a standardised complaint registration format in which passengers will be asked to provide additional details on the time of booking, distance of travel, among others.”

As per sources, if an airline is found to be charging a higher fare than the one it has published for the particular route, a ‘show cause’ notice will be served to it.

Presently, airfares in India are deregulated, meaning they are determined by market forces of demand and supply. However, airlines are required to publish their fare buckets or Reservation Booking Designators (RBDs).

These price buckets are monitored by the Tariff Monitoring Unit, set up by the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Nonetheless, recent incidents of exorbitantly high airfares have led to a public outcry, especially for flights to and from Prayagraj during this year’s Mahakumbh.

Similar airfare price trends have also been observed in the past on routes serving locations that host major events, such as cricket matches or concerts.

Officially, senior government bureaucrats have told businessline that an entirely new system for air fare monitoring and passenger complaint redressal regarding the same is being worked on.

“We have created a new link on the ‘air sewa’ app for airfare-related complaints. The link is being prominently displayed,” Union Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam told businessline on Monday.

“Other steps such as an analysis of airfare trends on a long-duration basis is being conducted.”

Notably, these initiatives come after a review of the airfare monitoring system was conducted. The review exposed shortcomings and possibilities for improvement.

businessline was the first to report on the new initiative undertaken by the Centre to revamp its monitoring, redressal and fare analysis system through a series of stories.

Revamped unit

On the revamped airfare monitoring unit, sources said that it will leverage an advanced system to detect spikes in ticket prices.

The system also aims to introduce greater transparency and accountability in airfare pricing.

Once the system identifies a route showing unusual price trends, then the authorities can prompt airlines to add capacity to prevent exponential fare hikes.

In terms of fare analysis, last month, DGCA asked airlines to submit metadata on the airfares charged during the last two fiscal years (2022-23 and 2023-24).

Sources had told businessline that the analysis will lead to the creation of realistic airfare buckets.

On the other hand, industry insiders who spoke to the businessline blamed the capacity constraint due to global supply chain issues leading to anomalies in airfares.

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Published on April 14, 2025