Amid the ongoing IndiGo crisis, CPI Rajya Sabha MP P Sandosh Kumar has raised concern over the high airfares that are being charged from stranded passengers. While the MP noted that the Union government has issued a notification to put a cap on airfares in view of the IndiGo crisis, he pointed out that the current notification goes against the ministry’s earlier assertion that airfares are market-driven and the government has no say in it.
The CPI MP wrote a letter to K Ram Mohan Naidu, the Minister for Civil Aviation, on Monday and further asked what the government meant by stable fares or reasonable pricing, in its order dated December 6, 2025.
“In reply to my question in the Rajya Sabha on 24.07.2023 regarding the ‘Rise in Airfares’, your ministry asserted that ‘airfares are market-driven and are neither regulated nor established by the Government. Airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs…’ and further that ‘there is no proposal at present to interfere with the existing regulatory framework on airfare.’ This statement suggested that the Government and the Ministry of Civil Aviation lacked the authority to intervene in airfare determination. However, the Ministry’s own Order No. 01/2025 dated 06.12.2025 demonstrates the opposite. The Order unambiguously states that ‘domestic scheduled airlines shall not charge the fares from the passengers more than the limits specified below’ and then prescribes maximum permissible fares such as ₹7,500 for flights up to 500 km. The same Order states that these fare limits ‘are applicable for travel until the fares stabilise’, yet the Government has nowhere defined what it considers to be stable fares or what constitutes reasonable pricing. When the authority to regulate fares is already established through this notification, the absence of a clear definition of stability and reasonableness raises serious concerns about transparency and leaves passengers unprotected in practice,” Sandosh Kumar wrote in the letter dated December 8, 2025.
The MP pointed out that domestic carriers have charged up to ₹60,000 for a Mumbai–Delhi flight, which is way higher than the notified ceiling of ₹15,000 for a 1,000–1,500 km range flight notified by the aviation ministry.
He also pointed out that the aviation regulator, DGCA, has claimed that its tariff monitoring unit ensures that the airfares charged by the airlines are within the established tariff of the airlines. However, despite this, airlines went ahead with altering their “so-called established tariffs” overnight to justify extreme surges.
“Similar concerns arise during festive seasons, particularly during Onam, when flights to Kerala are consistently priced far above regular fares, effectively penalising passengers who travel home during culturally significant periods. During the disruptions caused by the introduction of new crew rest norms, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed and yet the Ministry took no proactive steps to protect passengers from predatory pricing or to mandate stabilisation measures. The contradiction between the formal authority demonstrated through the 2025 order and the continued passivity during episodes of blatant overcharging points to a structural failure that has enabled airlines to exploit both demand and distress without deterrence,” the CPI MP wrote further, highlighting his concerns.
He demanded that the ministry make a comprehensive intervention and clearly and publicly define what the government’s stable fares and reasonable pricing are. This would prevent the airlines from exploiting ambiguity, he added.
“Passengers deserve protection from predatory pricing not only during crises but also during predictable periods of high demand such as festivals. I therefore urge the Ministry to act decisively to safeguard passengers and ensure that private airlines are held to reasonable, transparent, and accountable fare standards,” he stated further.