MRTPC admits opposition party's plea to probe Jet-Kingfisher alliance

New Delhi: India's monopolies regulator, the MRTPC, has asked its investigative unit the Director General of Investigations and Registration (DGIR) to probe into the operational alliance formed by the country's two largest private carriers, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, heeding a plea filed by a mainstream political outfit, the Bhartiya Janata Party.

The plea seeks a "detailed study and inquiry" into the informal alliance.

Admitting the petition, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission bench, headed by Justice OP Dwivedi, directed its investigative unit the DGIR to look into the matter and submit a preliminary investigation report (PIR).

In his petition, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has requested the Commission to probe the main objective of the alliance between the two domestic airlines which, as a consequence of their alliance will now end up controlling about 60 per cent of the country's civil aviation business.

It may be noted, however, that the Commission had already taken suo moto cognizance of the matter on 17 October, when it directed the DGIR to probe if the alliance was likely to lead to a monopoly situation.

It is understood that the DGIR has dispatched notices to Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines seeking details of the commercial arrangement along with their pricing strategy and is awaiting a response.

It is likely that the DGIR may connect both the cases.

In his petition, Somaiya alleges that the Jet-Kingfisher alliance may lead to "unfair competition" due abuse of dominance in the market by "collusive price fixing, deliberate reduction in output in order to increase price and sales tie-up".

He has also requested the MRTPC to look into the "aggressive increase" of fares by both these carriers over the last year.

Both airlines have announced an operational alliance that will allow them to jointly manage fuel, ground handling and also cross sell flight inventories.