The panel, headed by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh, also recommended to the ministry to ensure that airlines pass on the benefit of the 50 per cent reduction in jet fuel price to the consumers by way of slashing fares.
"The Committee also noticed that the airfares are exorbitant during the peak tourist seasons which are also causing hindrance to passenger flow in the country...
"The Committee also recommends that, in view of the predatory charges levied by the airlines during peak times, the Government should fix an upper limit especially in the economy class of airfares so that there should not be unhealthy practice of raising fares exorbitantly by the airliners," the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture said in its 231st report, tabled in Parliament today.
Prime Minister had last August expressed "concern" over predatory pricing by the domestic carriers after he reportedly received a representation that airfares are high during the Onam festival that is celebrated in Kerala.
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The Committee received numerous complaints about high air fares and high charges levied by airlines and airports operators making it very expensive for the air travelers, the report said.
their (ministry's) basic responsibilities of protecting the consumers, the report said, "the Committee fails to understand whose interest is sought to be served by taking such a stand that too before a Parliamentary Committee which is empowered to suggest necessary modification in our rules, regulations that are coming in our way for correcting airfares."
"Let us not compare Indian case with any other country. India has a specific case which needs a specific solution that is best suited to it in a given situation.
"The Committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the Ministry of Civil Aviation should specify the limitations, legal and otherwise, which need to be amended or other measures to be put in place to tackle this problem after consulting all the stakeholders," it said.
The Committee recommends that the Ministry should take effective steps to ensure that the airlines pass on the benefit to the travelers by reducing the air fares.