"Unusual" Airfare Surge Raised In Meeting Of Parliament Panel On Transport

The issue of rising fares was raised in the first meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport. Headed by Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Jha, the committee will look at critical aspects of transport and connectivity in the country.

Rising airfares, hoax calls and regional airport connectivity were discussed in the meeting. In the last few months, fluctuating air ticket prices and unreasonable spikes during the festive season have been raised by several MPs with the speaker himself urging the Civil Aviation Ministry to look into it.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, in a recent interview with NDTV, had said that the ministry is keeping a tab on this matter. But since fares are largely demand-driven, the government doesn't want to be seen as regulating the space too much.

Members of the committee said it was decided to have separate meetings to discuss rising airfares and connectivity through airports, particularly the centre's UDAAN scheme. The MPs pointed to discrepancies in fares of different airlines and an unusual surge in fares among other things. Officials said they are looking into the matter.

The issue of hoax calls too was raised in the meeting. Multiple instances of airlines receiving hoax calls have been reported in the last few days.

Officials told MPs that an investigation is underway and that they have identified critical leads in the matter. And that they will get the entire picture soon, sources said.

Some MPs also raised safety concerns.

Several flights have been disrupted due to bomb threat messages, mostly on social media, received by airlines.

During the over three-hour-long meeting, the members were given a lowdown on the different divisions within the ministry and also budgets.

The next meeting of the committee will be on October 24 wherein road transport and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials will brief the members.

MPs such as Sudha Murthy, DMK's MM Abdullah, Congress party's KC Venugopal and Kumari Selja, YSRCP's Vijay Sai Reddy, BJP's Manoj Tiwari are part of the transport committee.