No anti-competitive practice by Jet airways as there was no evidence to show cartelization during Jaat agitation

Case details: Ms. Shikha Roy v. Jet Airways (India) Ltd. - [2021] 129 taxmann.com 411 (CCI)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairperson MS. Sangeeta Verma and Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi, Member
    
  • Abhishek Sharma, Adv, Shashi Shekhar, Legal Executive, Raj Shekhar Rao, Sr. Advs, Sagardeep Rathi, Pranjal Prateek, Ebaad Nawaaj Khan, Advs, Vihang Virkar, Karun Jhangiani, Advs, Prashant Shinde, Sr. General Manager (Legal) and Pratik Majumdar, DGM for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the instant case, the OPs i.e., Jet Airways, Spicejet, Go Airlines, Air India, and inter globe were domestic airlines providing, air transportation services to passengers in India.

The Informant had submitted that during the period of Jat Agitation in February 2016, domestic airlines tickets skyrocketed to exorbitant rates, particularly between Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Amritsar routes. It was averred that there had been a trend in the aviation industry that the airlines had increased their ticket price as per their will to exploit the passengers during extraordinary conditions.

The Informant also alleged that simultaneous fluctuation in air tickets prices by airlines was violative of the provisions of section 3 of the Competition Commission Act.

However, the Commission was of the opinion that there exists a prima facie case for the investigation by the Office of the Director-General (DG) in the matter with regard to alleged cartelization by the airline companies viz. Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Indigo, GoAir, and Air India (OPs) during the Jat Agitation in February 2016 in contravention of the provisions of section 3(3). Accordingly, the Commission directed the DG to cause an investigation to be made into the matter.

CCI Held

The CCI noted that though OPs sold their tickets at higher fare buckets for aforesaid sectors, the investigation did not reveal any price parallelism or identical pricing of tickets by OP-airlines. Further, no e-mails or any form of electronic communication between key personnel by OP’s were found which could show any exchange of information among OPs establishing any form of collusion during or after Jat agitation period.

However, one of the major findings with regard to ticket pricing of OPs for aforesaid sectors was that all sectors witnessed high demand for air tickets due to the onset of Jat Agitation which led to the non-availability of alternative modes of transport like rail, road, etc.

Since there was no evidence on record to suggest any concerted action or communication between OP airlines fix ticket prices, no case of contravention of provisions of section 3 was made out against OPs.