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The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has called for an immediate review of the government’s decision to allow opening of advance bookings by domestic airlines for flights from April 14 even before taking a decision on whether or not the lockdown will be lifted that day.
Before the government announced its decision to impose a 21-day complete lockdown, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) barred both foreign and domestic airlines from flying till the midnight of April 14.
“This is unfair to consumers. As and when the lockdown is lifted and the structure of the transition period is known, the Ministry of Civil Aviation should only allow the reopening of bookings on the sectors which will be operated by Indian airlines during transition and not the entire network,” the aviation advisory said in a statement.
Interestingly, a former head of DGCA endorsed what CAPA said and pointed out that deregulation does imply absence of regulations.
Some domestic airlines started taking bookings for flights from April 15 onwards following the order of the DGCA grounding all flights in India till the midnight of April 14.
The CAPA statement added that giving credit vouchers for all advance bookings prior to the lockdown was expected and reasonable, but not for bookings after April 14.
CAPA pointed out that the closure of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways has already resulted in massive losses to passengers as refunds could not be processed.
“As of now, significant funds of passengers are already locked with Indian carriers as a result of advance bookings prior to the lockdown. The decision to allow bookings post April 14 without any decision on the lifting of the lockdown will increase the risks, which needs to be avoided,” the statement added.
Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities, in a report on InterGlobe Aviation, said that according to its airfare tracker, post the lockdown, operations (mainly on key/metro routes) should see a staggered start.
When contacted, a spokesperson of Vistara said the airline will operate per Aviation Ministry guidance. An IndiGo spokesperson said the company does not have a comment.
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