5 months ago
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CPI(M) MP John Brittas connected Saturday (December 6, 2025) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee oregon a judicial enquiry into what helium described arsenic an “unprecedented disruption of civilian aviation and the exploitative surge of airfares”.
Stating that millions of aerial travellers have, implicit the past fewer days, been subjected to an “unprecedented” illness of civilian aviation services and economical exploitation done “unbridled airfare escalation”, Mr. Brittas said the situation pursuing the enforcement of revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms has “exposed heavy structural failures successful regulatory preparedness, marketplace oversight, and user protection, leaving mean passengers dangerously vulnerable”.
In a missive addressed to the Prime Minister, helium said the abrupt cancellation and hold of a monolithic fig of flights by IndiGo, which commands a 63-65% stock of the home market, had “paralysed” aerial question nationwide. “Given this bonzer attraction of marketplace power, the nonaccomplishment of a azygous backstage relation translated into a nonaccomplishment of the full system,” helium said, pointing retired that thousands of passengers were stranded, forced to slumber connected terminal floors, and compelled to miss aesculapian emergencies.
Mr. Brittas said portion the revised FDTL norms were intended to heighten safety, their implementation “displayed a catastrophic deficiency of operational planning, modulation preparedness, interaction assessment, and regulatory foresight”. He added that “after the strategy collapsed nether predictable pressure, the precise information norms initially enforced were hurriedly diluted oregon withdrawn, raising superior concerns that rider information was subordinated to commercialized expediency”.
He said the disruption was “converted into a profiteering opportunity”, with home airfares skyrocketing to “extortionate levels”. “This surge was not confined to IndiGo alone; different carriers excessively raised fares sharply successful what appears to beryllium parallel terms escalation nether the cloak of algorithmic pricing,” helium said.
“Numerous planetary passengers reportedly had to cancel their Air India tickets aft their connected home legs operated by IndiGo were cancelled. This treble load of cancellations and fare surges enabled windfall gains astatine the public’s expense,” helium added, arguing that what is described arsenic ‘competition’ successful Indian aviation is, successful reality, a “near lockout by 2 ascendant players”.
“In China, the 3 largest airlines unneurotic bash not cumulatively transverse 60% marketplace share, and successful the United States nary azygous home hose holds much than astir 25% share, underscoring however utmost and antithetic India’s duopolistic operation is,” helium said. He asserted that simultaneous privatisation and commercialized cognition of large airports by firm entities had further choked opportunities for newer oregon determination airports.
The CPI(M) MP said that contempt being afloat operational, Kannur International Airport successful Kerala continued to beryllium denied “point-of-call” presumption for overseas carriers, adjacent arsenic the recently constructed Mopa Airport successful Goa had been granted specified access. He alleged that an airline–airport cartel appeared to beryllium shaping aviation access. He besides questioned the “inadequate” recruitment of pilots.
Expressing interest implicit “repeated authorities claims that airfares are ‘deregulated’”, Mr. Brittas noted that authorities rules empower the DGCA to contented binding directions against excessive oregon predatory pricing and oligopolistic practices.
He said that Article 73 of the Constitution extends the Union executive’s powerfulness to matters connected which Parliament has legislative authority, including civilian aviation. “Yet, successful repeated replies to my questions successful the Rajya Sabha, the authorities has evaded this work and astonishingly maintained that nary excessive pricing occurred, contempt overwhelming nationalist evidence,” helium said.
He charged that the DGCA’s Tariff Monitoring Unit was monitoring lone a constricted illustration of routes connected a random basis, and questioned the government’s “silence” connected wherefore categorical recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee connected a related contented person not yet been implemented.
Mr. Brittas urged mounting up of either a Joint Parliamentary Committee oregon a judicial committee of enquiry to comprehensively probe “the regulatory failures, hose preparedness, dilution of information norms, fare escalation patterns, and the argumentation model that has enabled specified utmost attraction of marketplace power”; and to analyse the “urgent request for a statutory Passenger Bill of Rights”.
