Written by Sukalp SharmaNew Delhi | Updated: December 6, 2025 02:52 PM IST 3 min readWith airfares skyrocketing due to the widespread disruption in IndiGo’s flight operations, the government has stepped in to regulate fares for other airlines by prescribing fare caps. Taking serious note of concerns regarding unusually high airfares being charged by certain airlines amid the IndiGo disruption, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said Saturday that it has invoked its regulatory powers “to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes” to protect passengers from “any form of opportunistic pricing”, the ministry said.“An official directive has been issued to all airlines mandating strict adherence to the fare caps that have now been prescribed. These caps will remain in force until the situation fully stabilises. The objective of this directive is to maintain pricing discipline in the market, prevent any exploitation of passengers in distress, and ensure that citizens who urgently need to travel—including senior citizens, students, and patients—are not subjected to financial hardship during this period,” MoCA said.The details of the prescribed airfare caps were not immediately available. Airfares are deregulated in India and are decided by market forces, but the government can intervene to regulate fares if major disruptions hit the sector. For instance, airfare bands were imposed by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.MoCA said that it will continue to closely monitor fare levels through real-time data and active coordination with airlines and online travel platforms, it said, adding that any deviation from the prescribed norms will “attract immediate corrective action in the larger public interest”.The massive disruption at IndiGo—India’s largest airline that commands over 60 per cent of the domesic market share—has thrown commercial flight operations out of gear all over the country. With scores of IndiGo flights cancelled daily this week—over 1,000 cancellations or over half its scheduled flights on Friday alone—thousands of passengers were stranded, and scenes of chaos erupted at major airports across India. Due to this large-scale disruption, airfares have surged as passengers scramble to secure a flight ticket for essential travel. Demands for MoCA’s intervention to keep airfares in check were being made from various quarters amid the IndiGo crisis.Last-minute and day-ahead airfares have shot up to multiple times the regular fares on various routes across the country. Last-minute fares tend to be expensive anyway, but the IndiGo crisis has sent them through the roof with some seats going for as much as seven to eight times the regular fare on those routes.Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More © The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:aviation