The sudden spurt in prices of domestic air tickets, triggered by the employees' strike in the state-run Air India, have come under scrutiny of the anti-competition watch dog Competition Commission of India (CCI) as per a report in the Business Standard.

The investigation wing of CCI, headed by its director-general (DG), has asked senior executives of all low-cost airlines to explain the price increase that took place in the last 10 days. Around 800 pilots of Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), a union of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots, were on strike.

Air India is the fourth largest carrier in terms of passengers and commands 15 per cent of the domestic market. With the strike taking back all the capacity from the market, the competitor airlines raised fares by up to 30 per cent.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation regulator, also called a meeting of the airlines asking them not to take benefit of the strike and raise fares.Even before the current price spurt happened, CCI’s investigation wing was probing airline the pricing pattern after prices showed a steep rise last November.

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