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NEW DELHI: The aviation ministry is planning to regulate fares by fixing Rs 20,000 as the highest economy class fare to be charged on domestic routes. This follows instances of some airlines charging exorbitant rates during the ongoing Spicejet crisis.Even spot fares (tickets purchased at the last minute which always go for the highest price) are not supposed to go beyond the limit the ministry plans to set.“The SpiceJet crisis happened, among other things, due to the extremely low fares it charged this year. We have to stop predatory pricing to prevent other airlines from meeting the fate of a Kingfisher or SpiceJet. We are going to set minimum and maximum fare for airlineS,” said a senior official.On December 18, TOI had first reported about the move to put in place a floor and a cap on air fares.Till now, fares have not been regulated by the ministry. Airlines give a range of minimum and maximum fares to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) every month for each route.“We are going to finalize the modalities of this move soon, possibly in a month. Airlines which flout the range of fares can risk losing their licence,” said the official.An internal note prepared by the ministry says that airlines have been offering huge discounts due to intense competition. “If the situation is not contained, some airlines may face closure in the near future. Therefore, steps may be taken to fix minimum airfare to be charged by each airline. Airlines can be asked to submit their break-even price per km... An appropriate profit margin can be added and this can be the minimum price per km to be charged by the concerned airline,” the note says.On high fares, the note says the ministry gets complaints of exorbitant charges from many places like Jammu and Kashmir, northeast India and Andaman and Nicobar. “There is a need to cap maximum economy class airfare at a reasonable price of about Rs 20,000 beyond which airline should not be allowed to charge, exploiting passengers' urgency for travel due to various reasons,” the note says.However, the ministry has no plans to regulate business class fares.Airlines, on their part, oppose the sudden move to regulate fares. “What type of free market do we have where dying airlines (read Air India and SpiceJet) are kept artificially alive by the aviation ministry. Fares have been a factor of demand and supply. Now the ministry wants to regulate fares too. The government should nationalize all airlines and run them like a big PSU,” said an airline official.The aviation ministry, however, says no other ministry -- read oil and finance -- has listened to their request for giving relief to SpiceJet. “Fin min has not asked banks to give loans to SpiceJet and oil ministry has not asked oil PSUs to give jet fuel on credit to the airline. Yet keeping passenger interest in mind, we want airlines to stay alive. For that they need pricing discipline and our regulation is meant to enforce that only,” said the official.