NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it can ask concerned airlines to pay a 0.5% interest per month on delayed refunds of tickets.
The recommendation was made before an apex court bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan in a plea seeking issuance of full refund for flights cancelled due to covid-19 lockdown.
The central government added that it was open to considering interest of “any particular segment of passengers if adversely affected” due to cancellation of tickets.
Vistara and AirAsia opposed the government’s suggestion of paying interest, saying most of their customers preferred credit shell.
IndiGo apprised the bench that to has made full refund of tickets booked for its flights during the lockdown.
The case has been adjourned till 25 September, with the Supreme Court seeking an additional affidavit from the government with details of modes of refund.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier filed a supplementary affidavit in the apex court saying that tickets booked during the lockdown period will be immediately refunded. In case of tickets booked prior to the lockdown for flights up till 24 May will be refunded as credit shell.
The affidavit had added that refunds were applicable to passengers of all flights which were cancelled, domestic and international.
