India seeks fare data from airlines as part of IndiGo antitrust scrutiny

Government has asked ‌IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa to provide ​data on average fares charged, a document shows, as antitrust authorities investigate unprecedented travel disruptions in December.

Pilot shortages at IndiGo, which dominates India’s aviation market with a 65% share, forced it to cancel about 4,500 flights last month, stranding thousands of passengers and disrupting air travel nationwide.

Fares ​of certain airlines surged during the crisis, prompting the ⁠government to impose temporary caps.

India’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in December said it was proceeding against IndiGo to assess whether it had ​abused its market position. IndiGo ⁠has not commented on the case.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which oversees safety, has written to airlines asking for ‌average fares on each route they operated on, ‌for economy and premium economy seats, over the period December 1-15, according to a Reuters review ‍of a January 1 government email to IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa.

The CCI and the ‍civil aviation authority did not respond to Reuters queries on the private email. Akasa declined to comment, while other airlines did not respond.

A government source, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the details have been sought at the request of the CCI as they could help it to assess airfare ⁠patterns across airlines during the disruptions.

The government email also asked airlines to provide “fare data on ​affected routes” during the disruptions, the email said. There is no ⁠indication the case is being broadened to scrutinise other airlines.

One complaint being reviewed by the CCI accuses IndiGo of cancelling flights and then offering seats at much higher prices, amounting to abuse of its ⁠dominant market position, Reuters has previously reported.