In a veiled criticism of DGCA's proposed move to fix lower ticket cancellation charges and a nearly five-fold hike in denied boarding compensation, SpiceJet's CMD Ajay Singh on Thursday said such issues should be left to the airlines and their customers.
"Sometimes different elements of the government work at cross purposes. As long as the airline makes it clear to the passengers at the time of buying tickets as to what the cancellation charge policy, then it is the contract between the airline and the passenger. "That should not be interfered with by any other authority," Singh said at an event here.
He said that any increase in fuel prices, airport fee or levying of transaction charges only enhances an airline's cost. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has early proposed a raft of passenger-centric measures including to fix cancellation charges not more than the base fares as against around Rs 2,000 being charged by domestic carriers across the board and reducing the extra checked-in baggage fee.
"We believe that services need to be unbundled and we believe that people should pay only for actually what they subscribe to. If somebody wants to travel without luggage, then he should have the benefit for not carrying the luggage," he said.
Singh said that India is a "price sensitive" market and there is a need to bring down the cost and make airlines profitable. "The 20 per cent growth is the direct consequence of the reduction in air fares from last year to this year. That must continue if we want to see this sector growing," he said. India has been the fastest growing aviation market in the world with domestic passengers travel demand spiking 20 per cent in the last fiscal.
23/06/16 PTI/DNA
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"Sometimes different elements of the government work at cross purposes. As long as the airline makes it clear to the passengers at the time of buying tickets as to what the cancellation charge policy, then it is the contract between the airline and the passenger. "That should not be interfered with by any other authority," Singh said at an event here.
He said that any increase in fuel prices, airport fee or levying of transaction charges only enhances an airline's cost. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has early proposed a raft of passenger-centric measures including to fix cancellation charges not more than the base fares as against around Rs 2,000 being charged by domestic carriers across the board and reducing the extra checked-in baggage fee.
"We believe that services need to be unbundled and we believe that people should pay only for actually what they subscribe to. If somebody wants to travel without luggage, then he should have the benefit for not carrying the luggage," he said.
Singh said that India is a "price sensitive" market and there is a need to bring down the cost and make airlines profitable. "The 20 per cent growth is the direct consequence of the reduction in air fares from last year to this year. That must continue if we want to see this sector growing," he said. India has been the fastest growing aviation market in the world with domestic passengers travel demand spiking 20 per cent in the last fiscal.
23/06/16 PTI/DNA
