Airline ticket refund: Supreme Court seeks clarification from the Centre and grants ten days to airlines to submit their reply

• The Supreme Court gives ten days to airlines and other stakeholders to respond to the Centre’s affidavit.
• The Centre's affidavit states that tickets booked during the lockdown will be fully refunded.
• Next hearing on the airline ticket refund case on September 23.
• Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.

The Supreme Court of India today (September 9) granted ten days to Indian air carriers and other stakeholders to submit their reply to the Centre’s affidavit, which states that tickets booked during the lockdown will be fully refunded.

The bench led by Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah also asked the Centre for further clarifications on the issue of refund criteria of flights cancelled after the lockdown period amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, if the Centre’s proposal will cover tickets that were booked before March for travel during that lockdown period.

Here’s the timeline of the air travel refund case so far:

• In mid-April, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court stating that the airlines in India are violating the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) order, which directs the airlines to pay a full refund to passengers for the tickets booked during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
• To which on April 28, the Apex court of India led bench of justices— N V Ramana, S K Kaul, and BR Gavai— heard the matter through video-conferencing, issued notices to sought responses from MoCA and the air regulator DGCA on the plea.
• Later on May 6, the Travel Agents Federation of India moved the SC to intervene in a petition concerning the refund of air tickets bought for travel during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
• On June 12, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to take a stand on refunding by airlines and suggested that a credit note by airlines must have a life of at least two years, and for any route, if that is the way out.
• On July 7, SC issued notice to the government after it admitted a fresh writ petition filed by Air Passengers Association of India president Sudhakar Reddy, represented by senior advocate C.A. Sundaram and advocate Rohit Rathi for a full refund on tickets. The petition said that the refusal of the airlines to refund the ticket amount was “arbitrary and ultra vires.”
• On September 6, the central government proposed that a full refund should be given by the airlines within 15 days for tickets booked during the lockdown. Also stated that if any airline is in financial distress, then a credit shell should be provided up to March 31, 2021, on any route of passenger choice.

The shares of Indian airlines, SpiceJet and IndiGo, have been under pressure in trade - tumbling 3% on September 9.

SEE ALSO: Don't expect an automatic refund from airlines: Here's why they don't refund customers even after a flight is canceled

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