Akasa Air CEO says no gouging should be mandatory

India has one of the world's best airfare regimes, but there shouldn't be gouging in terms of ticket prices to take advantage of a particular situation, said Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube. The world's fastest-growing airline market, India, is experiencing a surge in demand for its services, resulting in a robust recovery following the coronavirus pandemic. Dube, also the founder of Akasa Air, said the civil Aviation Ministry has an excellent point in terms of gouging and doesn't talk about average fares in India, like equivalent to $45 or 50, which is too high. The government is worried about Gouging. As an airline fraternity, we should ensure that there is no gouging, he said in an interview in Istanbul. Gouging is a common term used when anybody actually jacks up the price of something to take advantage of a particular micro-environmental situation. Gouging is just not a good thing. The average airline prices in India are the best in the world, with the most accomodating customer services in any kind of airline industry. The Indian consumer average offers one of the best airfare rates in the world, making it an ideal choice for any traveler. That is a fact and we have some of the cheapest average fares anywhere in the world, he said. The government asked airlines to develop a mechanism to ensure reasonable airfares, especially on certain routes that were earlier served by Go First, on June 5, which led to a surge in air ticket prices. Airlines have been asked to self-monitor airfares on routes with a significant increase in ticket prices and also to develop a mechanism to ensure reasonable pricing within the high RBD Reservation Booking Designators Airfares are deregulated and prices run on multiple levels. Go First has stopped flying from May 3 and the decrease of capacity due to the crisis at the budget airline has come at a time when the peak domestic air travel period was rounding the corner. About arguments in some quarters that mostly airfares are based on algorithms, Dube said he can ensure that there is no algorithm in the world where 100 percent of the price and inventory decisions are taken by a piece of software, at least not today. When that day comes, you can program anti-gouging techniques into that as well. There's no middle ground for it, and it's all extremely manageable. You have to believe that you can get airfares to some level that can still provide a lot of consumer benefits and you can raise them to a certain level without gouging. nothing complicated about it, said the chief executive of Akasa Air. The airline, which started operating in August last year, has 19 aircraft and the 20th plane is to join the fleet in July. Dube said Akasa Air will place a triple-digit order for narrow-body planes before the end of the year and said nothing is done at the airline for the short term. The carrier is expected to begin operations globally by the end of 2023, having 20 planes in its fleet. It's expected to reach a total of 72 planes by March 2027. The airline is looking at destinations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, among other locations, but is still in discussions with the government on possible destinations. As per official data, Akasa Air carried a population of 5.13 lakh passengers in April and had a market share of 4 per cent.