India's domestic airlines get a boost as cap on ticket prices lifts

Jet Airways (India)

11/08/2022 05:16

BENGALURU, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian domestic
airlines rose on Thursday, a day after the civil aviation
ministry said it will remove the restrictions on ticket prices
it had imposed two years ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    Domestic airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet Ltd  SPJT.NS , Air India,
Go First and Vistara - a joint venture between the Tata Group
and Singapore Airlines  SIAL.SI  - can now price tickets freely.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2ZM0OC
    Shares of top airline IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation
Ltd  INGL.NS  rose as much as 2.3% to 2084.6 rupees while
smaller rival SpiceJet Ltd  SPJT.NS  jumped as much as 7% to
47.9 rupees.    
    The government had imposed a minimum and maximum band based
on the flight's duration to prevent ticket prices from spiking
once restrictions on air travel eased.
    Competition in the Indian aviation space is expected to heat
up with the launch of Akasa Air and revival of Jet Airways
 JET.NS . 
    The upcoming festival season is expected to boost demand for
air travel, with passenger numbers already touching pre-COVID
levels. But high fuel costs continue to be a dampener.

 (Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Neha Arora)
 ((tanvi.mehta@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/TanviMehta710;))