NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern over the frequent sharp hikes in airfares, especially during peak travel times and when someone has to buy a ticket on short notice to travel for an emergency. In a meeting with the aviation ministry top brass on Tuesday, the PM spoke extensively on the issue of predatory pricing and asked the officials present there to find a solution to this problem .

"It (predatory pricing) is a concern of a majority of Parliamentarians, including the Prime Minister, and needs to be addressed. The PM has shown his concern over the predatory pricing issue. Airlines need to reduce fares and not hike them particularly when it comes to emergency travel like in medical emergency," minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma said at an aviation meet organized by Assocham here on Thursday.

"There could be three approaches to prevent predatory pricing . We will take the airlines into confidence and tell them that the practice (of predatory pricing) is giving a bad name to the industry. A mechanism can also be there through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or through national carrier Air India," Sharma added.

So far, successive aviation ministers have been clueless about tackling the sharp hikes in airfares that take place during peak travel and holiday seasons and also the high level of spot fares.

While Sharma often talks about capping fares, his senior Ashok Gajapathi Raju says that will not be possible. The ministry had last year spoken of capping domestic economy fares at Rs 20,000 but later scrapped the idea. Earlier this year BJP MP Kirit Somaiya had raised this issue with Competition Commission of India chairman Ashok Chawla.

Meanwhile, Sharma said consultations were held with the PM on the controversial 5/20 rule — which says an Indian carrier must be five-year-old and have 20 planes in its fleet to fly abroad. "This (5/20) rule will be re-addressed with a certain changes or new rules."

The ministry of civil aviation has also discussed a complete "open sky policy" for India with countires within a radius of 5,000 km or above and the guidelines have been framed on that issue, Sharma said.