Amid the price war between airlines to stimulate the rising demands, the minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma has commented on the need for regulating ‘predatory’ air fares. While the need for air fare regulator has been there for a long time the minister said that instead of total pricing control, the aviation industry immediately needs regulation for predatory air fares.

He said this on the sidelines of a function related to GMR Aviation Academy.

The fare war between airlines has been on for some time as many of them have opted for a sudden and steep discount in their fares due to tough competition. He also said that a final call on this issue would be taken after a wide discussion with the stakeholders and others as this is his individual opinion. He stressed upon the need to set the higher and the lower end of the fare.

Sharma informed the reporters that the initial discussion on this issue has already been started. He added, “In principle, I believe there should be some regulation on the upper and the lower limit of fares. We don’t aim to regulate the prices completely but some regulation has to be there.”

There has been a stiff competition amongst various air carriers by cutting down prices to entice customers. In January Air India had kicked off a fare war by cutting economy class fares up to half. Most of the airlines slash their fare during the lean season.