The Government of India has introduced temporary upper limits on domestic flight ticket prices after reports of large flight cancellations and sudden increases in fares on many routes. The decision has been taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in what it has described as a public-interest step, mainly to protect passengers from unusually high prices during a period of shortage of flights.
According to the official order issued on Friday, the Central Government said that disruptions in the operations of one of the scheduled airlines had resulted in cancellation of flights in different sectors, which then created capacity problems and an unexpected rise in ticket prices. The order clearly mentions that the government found the fare rise unreasonable and therefore decided to step in.
Under the new temporary arrangement, domestic scheduled airlines cannot charge more than the maximum fares fixed for different distance categories. For flights up to 500 kilometres, the highest charge allowed will be ₹7,500. For flights between 500 km and 1,000 km, the limit has been placed at ₹12,000. Flights between 1,000 km and 1,500 km have a maximum price of ₹15,000, and flights above 1,500 kilometres cannot be priced higher than ₹18,000. These prices do not include user development fee, passenger service fee, or taxes, which will be added separately as per rules. 
The government has also clarified that these limits will not apply to business-class bookings. Flights covered under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAAN) are also outside the scope of these restrictions. However, for all other domestic scheduled flights, the airlines will be expected to follow the limits strictly until further notice.
The order states that the limits will remain in place until the situation settles or the government reviews the matter again. It also notes that these rules will apply to every form of booking, including direct purchasing from an airline’s official website, mobile application, physical ticket counters, or booking through any online travel platforms.
The Ministry has further directed airlines to ensure enough tickets across different booking categories and also consider improvement of capacity on routes where there is unusually high demand. The government has said that airlines should keep availability visible and should not restrict booking categories in a way that puts passengers under pressure to buy tickets at higher prices.
