The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday suspended a directive requiring airlines to allow passengers to choose at least 60% of seats on any flight without a seat selection fee, less than three weeks after the rule was announced as part of the Passenger Rights Campaign.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said the item would remain “on hold until further orders” pending a “comprehensive examination of the matter,” according to a letter dated April 2 addressed to the Director General of Civil Aviation.
The ministry said the reversal came after protests from the Indian Airlines Association and Acasa Air, which cited the potential impact of the rule on fare structures and its consistency with India’s unregulated tariff regime. The government separately announced that it would cap monthly increases in aviation turbine fuel prices for domestic flights at 25%, both measures appearing to be linked to financial turmoil caused by rising oil prices and road restrictions linked to the conflict in West Asia.
The original circular issued on March 17 had directed scheduled airlines to allocate at least 60% of seats without selection fees on each flight, and seat passengers sharing a booking together, preferably in adjacent seats. The Ministry has formulated these measures as a step towards enhancing passenger comfort and standardizing practices across the sector.
Thursday’s order does not affect other provisions contained in the March 17 circular. The DGCA has been asked to continue enforcing rules regarding shared seating of passengers on the same passenger name register, transparent policies for the carriage of sports equipment, musical instruments and pets, and clear disclosure of applicable fees.
Indian airlines currently charge an additional fee for seat selection during online check-in, with only 5% to 15% of seats available on a typical flight without an additional fee. Seats at the front of the plane and window seats are usually more expensive.
The FIA, whose members include Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, wrote to the ministry on March 19 arguing that the directive would be counterproductive to passengers. She warned that airlines would simply recoup the additional income lost through higher base fares.
The FIA also cited a 2017 Delhi High Court ruling that preferential seating is a valid non-bundled service and that the DGCA has no authority to fix or cap its price as long as the service is optional, transparently disclosed and non-discriminatory. It also claimed that the directive conflicts with the government’s Air Transport Circular 2024, which endorsed unbundling as a mechanism to keep basic fares affordable.
