The MoCA will soon bring out a new aviation policy that will focus on airline sustainability - and hence safety in operations. For this purpose, the new policy will focus on ensuring that airline fares are reflective of their total costs to ensure that neither are fares so high that the consumer is fleeced, nor lowered by some carriers (predatory pricing) so much that others find it hard to survive. 

"The ministry of civil aviation is working out a policy to factor in needs of the fast-growing sector over the next decade. We have about five months to complete the process," aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi said . 

The proposed economic regulatory mechanism for airfare pricing is significant as in recent months private airlines have been accusing national carrier Air India of charging very low fares to show improved aircraft occupancy. The private players complain that while AI will get thousands of crores from the government, they have to recover their cost to survive.

"We have started fresh work on the new civil aviation policy to meet the challenges of the new decade. It will look into issues of sustainability, viability and human resource of the sector," a senior official said.