India’s civil aviation regulator, DGCA, and a group of domestic carriers have agreed to the norms for airfare data sharing.
Notably, the move comes after the aviation regulator started an exercise to analyse the airfare pricing trends.
businessline was the first to report last week that the Centre has started an exercise to keep a close watch on any alleged manipulation in determining ticket prices by airlines.
Accordingly, airfare metadata was sought from airlines for the fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
However, sources told businessline, that two leading airlines in terms of market share opposed the plans to submit metadata on airfares to DGCA.
On Wednesday, the Federation of Indian Airlines’ Director Ujjwal Dey said, “Following discussions, the DGCA has kindly accepted FIA’s request that FIA member airlines furnish aggregated airfare data to enable DGCA to analyse airfare trends.”
“The FIA and its members wish to thank the DGCA for its understanding in the matter and look forward to working closely with the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation towards ensuring growth of the civil aviation sector by providing greater air connectivity at affordable fares in the country.”
FIA represents IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet.
The “pushback” from airlines had come after airfares to and from Prayagraj last month witnessed an exponential rise due to high traffic for the Mahakumbh.
Similarly, spikes in airfares have been observed on routes serving locations that host major events, such as cricket matches or concerts.
Deregulated airfares
“Since airfares are completely deregulated, it is very difficult to get this kind of data without bringing all the stakeholders on board,” sources told businessline.
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.