Staying out of it

Indian government won’t regulate ticket prices

Sound familiar? Come a long weekend or a holiday period and you want to drive off for a well-earned break, you can almost bet the house on the price of petrol creeping upwards.

Most of India’s massive population suspect the same is true of air fares around the subcontinent. In recent times it has led to more and more demands from local lawmakers – they allege airlines are colluding on certain routes and fleecing passengers, especially during holiday and festive seasons – for stricter regulation on so-called “predatory” pricing. On the one hand, in what has proven to be an ongoing turbulent market where profits are more than elusive, it’s not surprising carriers want to stretch their profit margins when they get the chance. On the other, proving that is what they are doing is turning out to be more than difficult.