Govt has powers to cap airfares but it is not single-way solution: Aviation Minister Naidu
New Delhi (PTI): The government has exclusive powers in extraordinary circumstances to cap airfares but it is not a single-way solution, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Friday amid rising concerns over high air ticket prices.
Replying to a debate on a private member's resolution on 'Resolutions: Appropriate Measures to Regulate Airfare in the Country' in the Lok Sabha, the minister also mentioned about non-availability of aircraft and that discussions are on to make planes in India.
The resolution, which was later withdrawn, was moved by Congress member Shafi Parambil.
There are multiple levels in the aviation ecosystem and various aspects, including the viability of airlines, he noted.
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Earlier this month, the civil aviation ministry imposed a distance-based cap on domestic airfares in the wake of the IndiGo flight disruptions.
Domestic air ticket pricing remains "on par with other nations" and it would not be feasible for the government to cap airfares across the nation, Naidu said.
According to the minister, a deregulated market ultimately benefits consumers and that ticket prices typically rise during festive seasons.
He also emphasised that deregulation remains central to the growth of civil aviation.
"If we want the civil aviation sector to grow, the first and foremost requirement is to keep it deregulated so that more players can enter the market."
However, the minister also said that deregulation does not give the airlines a free hand and the government retains powers to intervene when needed.
Naidu said that state-owned Alliance Air has started a three-month pilot scheme of fixed airfares and after looking into how much it has benefited passengers as well as the feedback, the ministry might also consider a similar plan for private airlines.
Stressing that capping airfares is not a "single-way solution", the minister said that in comparison internationally, the rate of growth in airfares in India has been negative, in relative and real terms.
"There has been a 43 per cent decrease in airfares when you consider the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation...," he said and added that airfares are affordable.
However, Naidu did not mention about the time frame for the comparison.
"The government has exclusive powers in extraordinary circumstances when they feel that when airfares are rising above the normal and becoming abnormal, we are taking it up...," Naidu said.
Listing out the bottlenecks, the minister said the main issue is about the availability of aircraft.
Indian carriers have more than 1,700 aircraft on order but global supply chain problems have been delaying the deliveries.
In this context, Naidu mentioned about the efforts to make planes in India.
"This government has taken a stance that we are not going to wait for these aircraft to be built... We are going to create a programme where aircraft can be built in the country. We should have a Made in India aircraft.
"There is Russian Sukhoi SJ-100 which is a regional aircraft. We are talking with them. HAL is engaging with them. They have (signed) MoU (memorandum of understanding). They are going to get technology here so that we can build the plane here," the minister said.
According to Naidu, talks are also happening with Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer.
"We are telling them to come to India and manufacture here," he said.
Participating in the debate, Congress member Varsha Gaikwad claimed air travel is not for comfort of common man today but a way to harass and loot them.
"There is loot in airfares... A ticket that earlier used to cost around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 now costs Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. There are several hidden charges which are imposed on air tickets booking. Several airlines have closed down or merged, which have led to a monopoly of airlines and the repercussions of which are faced by the public, an example of which we all saw last week," she said.
Samajwadi Party MP Ramashankar Rajbhar said when some companies have control of operations, they decide the fares as per their own will which leads not just to competition but fear of overpricing.
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Four astronauts return after historic lunar flyby, NASA now eyes landing on moon
Washington (PTI): Amid claps and cheers, four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis-II mission splashed down in the Pacific ocean after a historic flight to the moon – the first by humans in more than 50 years.
“The path to the moon is open but the work ahead is greater than the work behind,” Amit Kshatriya, Indian-origin NASA Associate Administrator told a press conference shortly after the Artemis-II crew returned to earth off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 eastern time on Friday.
The lunar flyby mission involving Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen was the first journey to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 when Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three days exploring the lunar surface.
Rick Henfling, the flight director, said the Artemis II astronauts are “happy and healthy and ready to come home to Houston.”
Artemis II was the first crewed mission to utilise NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew module — demonstrating that the agency’s equipment can propel astronauts out of Earth’s orbit and bring them safely home.
"Yesterday, flight director Jeff Radigan said we had less than a degree of an angle to hit after a quarter of a million miles to the moon," Kshatriya told reporters.
"And their team hit it. This is not luck; that is 1,000 people doing their job," he said.
The mission flew 700,237 miles; its peak velocity was 24,664 m.p.h.; and the flight had an entry range of 1,957 miles but landed within one mile of its target, Henfling said.
NASA now aims to land humans on the moon where the space agency also plans to set up a habitat that would be the launchpad for future missions to Mars and beyond.
It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon's far side never seen before by human eyes but a total solar eclipse.
They emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight one by one.
Henfling said his team 'breathed a sigh of relief' once the side hatch opened on the Orion Integrity after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
"We all breathed a sigh of relief once the hatch opened up, that's when we brought the team in," he said.
"We said a few words to the flight controllers, and then we turned around to the families and waved and gave them a thumbs up, and we all watched as each of their four astronauts got out of the spaceship and were hoisted up onto the helicopters. It was a great day," he added.
Henfling said his team felt "anxiety" as the four astronauts re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, but felt confident in all their training leading up the history-making lunar mission.
NASA said the Artemis III mission is "right around the corner" following its history-making journey around the moon.
"The next mission is right around the corner, and you know, we'll take the lessons learned from Artemis II," Henfling said.
"We learned a bunch on how to fly people in space, both from vehicle operations, but also from how to run a control room with a deep space mission. And when the time is right, we'll get back into specific training, and we've got a core group of about 30 flight directors, and they're all extremely capable.
"I think anybody who's assigned to that next mission is going to be as successful as us," Henfling said.
Amit Kshatriya is serving as the highest-ranking civil servant and a senior advisor to the administrator at NASA. He leads NASA's 10 centre directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators. He is also the agency’s chief operating officer.
Kshatriya previously served as the deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
LIVE: They are coming home.
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2026
Watch as the Artemis II crew returns to Earth, splashing down at around 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11). https://t.co/n3vZE2rcFv
