India, Oct. 20 -- Last week, the government informed the Supreme Court that rules to regulate airfares have been finalised and secured administrative approval and would be published within two weeks. This came months after the court in May called for rationalisation of airfares and asked the government to provide some relief, as it heard activist S Laxminarayanan's plea seeking a robust and independent regulator that ensures transparency and passenger protection across the civil aviation sector and regulatory guidelines to control "unpredictable fluctuations" in airfares and ancillary charges private airlines impose.

The plea came against the backdrop of complaints about exorbitant air tickets, particularly around the festive periods and...