The Supreme Court Friday asked the Centre to discuss with airlines the modalities of refunding air tickets for domestic and international passenger flights canceled when India suspended air travel to contain the coronavirus.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah asked the Centre to take a stand on the issue and work out ways for full refund, news agency PTI reported.
The bench also proposed that airlines provide a credit shell with a two-year validity against flight bookings that were canceled during the lockdown.
“Why should credit be limited to a short period or for the same route?” the bench asked.
Senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for airline companies submitted, that “airlines have suffered a hit of 60 billion dollars globally due to pandemic” and that 49% flying cost is fixed. He added that airlines have had zero revenue during the lockdown.
“Nowhere in the world are the airlines refunding the complete fare. We would like to sit and discuss with the civil aviation ministry and come up with a solution,” SpiceJet, one of India’s biggest budget airlines, told the court.
The apex court directed the civil aviation ministry to schedule a meeting with airlines and devise modalities to make refunds for air tickets to passengers.
The case will be heard after three weeks and all airlines will be heard as parties to this plea.
The directions were issued while hearing the plea filed by Travel Agents Federations of India. The plea was filed on 5 June and sought appropriate directions from the government to the airlines for a full refund.
