India's DGCA withdraws temporary domestic airfare caps
Airlines' pricing teams must justify fare changes under ministry real‑time monitoring
Change
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) withdrew the temporary cap on domestic airfares, effective March 23, 2026, and requires carriers to maintain reasonable, transparent fares under real‑time monitoring that will target excessive or unjustified surges.
Why it matters
Domestic carriers must operate on the DGCA summer flight schedule from March 29 through October 24, 2026 and ensure published timings are maintained. Airlines are required to publish up‑to‑date schedule information on their websites and to enable direct passenger contact for last‑minute changes caused by operational exigencies.
Implications
- — Airlines' pricing, revenue‑management, and legal/compliance teams must immediately retain and be able to produce documented pricing rationales, timestamped fare‑change logs and transparent fare breakdowns on short notice — failure to produce records will attract the Ministry of Civil Aviation's real‑time scrutiny and regulatory follow‑up.
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Source
View on Economic Times