(a) whether there is any proposal with Directorate General of Civil Aviation to allow domestic airlines to offer discounted ‘Zero Baggage Fares’;
(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the charges, if any, in case a passenger brings any luggage despite booking ticket under the ‘Zero Baggage Fares’; and
(c) whether any of the domestic airlines have approached the Government in this regard, if so, the details thereof?
Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Dr Mahesh Sharma)
(a) to (c): Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued Air Transport Circular 03 of 2015 on ''Unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines". The circular allows airlines to offer "no check-in baggage/hand baggage only" fare scheme subject to the condition that the
penalty to be imposed on a passenger, who avails such schemes by turns up with baggage for check-in at airline counter, cannot exceed the amount of incentive offered compared to lowest fare.
Although scheduled airlines are free to fix the charges/fee for the unbundled services, yet DGCA reserves the right to intervene and stop the scheduled airlines from charging for any specific unbundled services if principles such as opt-in, transparency, non-discrimination are found to be violated by the airlines.