Passengers will soon find it easier to make flight bookings.
The civil aviation ministry is working towards establishment of a single number to make flight bookings on domestic scheduled airlines, well-placed sources have told this newspaper.
This will ease the process for passengers who otherwise have to ring up call centres of the respective airlines. The issue was discussed at an airline facilitation meeting at the civil aviation ministry on Friday.
The government is inviting suggestions from airlines on how this is to be established.
The plan is that passengers will have to call up just one number for flight bookings and will then be presented with options to be connected to call centres of various airlines.
A data base will have to be set up for this but it is being worked on, said a source.
The government’s move is bound to be welcomed by passengers at a time of increased air-travel when the aviation industry is recovering financially after the end of the two year-long global recession and load-factors of flights is once again shooting up. The number of passengers travelling by air is also on an increase.
The government is also looking at the feasibility of creating a uniform website display for flight bookings for all domestic airlines so that passengers can quickly identify whether there are tickets available on their intended date of travel to a destination on flights of various airlines.
The government had earlier made it clear that airlines would have to clearly spell out the fares and tax component within these fares on airline websites for the benefit of passengers.