India’s aviation industry has faced many ups and downs over the years, but the current situation is more chaotic than ever before. Airports across the country are packed with passengers who are unable to reach their destinations. Indigo Airlines, one of India’s biggest private airlines, is facing a strike, and because of this, other airlines have sharply increased their ticket prices. The situation is so bad that a Delhi-to-Mumbai ticket is now costing up to ₹60,000.
This crisis has been going on for four days, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation has finally stepped in. Since the government no longer owns any airline all domestic and international flights are run by private companies it cannot directly control airline operations the way it once could. Indigo Airlines has a massive 65% share of the domestic aviation market. Air India and a few other airlines share the remaining market. Air India mainly handles international flights and was privatized only a few years ago when the government sold it to the Tata Group.
In a healthy market-based economy, competition between companies keeps prices fair for consumers. But when one company becomes too dominant, it can charge whatever it wants. This is what we are seeing in India’s aviation sector today. With Indigo struggling and holding most of the market, ticket prices have become unpredictable and unfair. Meanwhile, the Competition Commission of India — which is supposed to prevent such situations — appears to be doing very little.
Before 1991, when India operated under a mixed economy, the country had a Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) that constantly monitored and prevented any single company from monopolizing the market. However, in the current open market-based economy, there have been hardly any instances of the Competition Commission taking action, even though the possibilities of market monopolization are highest in such an economy. The central government seems to have finally taken notice of this, as it has now taken necessary steps to regulate domestic airfares. For air distances up to 500 km, the maximum fare will be ₹7500, while for distances between 500 and 1000 km, it will be ₹12,000, and for distances between 1000 and 1500 km, it will be ₹15,000. For distances beyond that, the fare will be ₹18,000. The distance between Delhi and Chennai in India is more than 1500 km. The question is, why did this situation arise, forcing the government to intervene? The reason was a strike by pilots at IndiGo Airlines. The pilots went on strike due to changes in their service conditions.
This led the airline to set a new record for flight cancellations, with the number reaching into the thousands. Naturally, this caused chaos at airports across the country and immense inconvenience to passengers. The government has now summoned the CEO of IndiGo Airlines and asked why necessary action should not be taken against him. By issuing a show-cause notice, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has merely tried to protect itself from public anger. However, in a democracy, the ultimate responsibility lies with the government, and it cannot escape this responsibility. Currently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is headed by Mr. Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party. This party is part of the central Modi government, but in a democracy, there is collective responsibility, and no party in power can shirk its duty.
Therefore, the central government must collectively consider how to prevent private airlines from exploiting consumers or passengers in any way. The government should also take this opportunity to reflect on whether it made a mistake by privatizing all of the country’s airlines. In fact, the foundation for the privatization of airlines was laid during the previous Manmohan Singh government. At that time, the Minister of Civil Aviation was Mr. Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party. He first merged Air India and Indian Airlines and subsequently brought the merged Air India to a state of heavy losses. During Mr. During Patel’s tenure, profitable domestic and international air routes were allocated to private companies, which further increased the losses of the government-owned airline. Under the Modi government, the situation has reached a point where only two private companies have a virtual monopoly over the entire air travel market. Therefore, this situation also needs to be changed.
