The government has hardened its stance over air fare hike by some private airlines, issuing a letter to Kingfisher Airlines asking it to provide details of fare hike by February 14.

The chairman of Kingfisher Airline, Vijay Mallya said, "Let me confirm that we have late yesterday received a letter from the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), asking details about the fare hike, to which we shall reply." The air carrier would soon reply to DGCA clearing its stance over the fare hike.

He further said, "We need to find a positive route to profit, we cannot do a public service." The airline suffered a loss of 4.13 billion rupees in the period between October and November due to decrease in passenger traffic under the impact of global slowdown.

Mr. Malliya asked to reduce charges and taxes to help the aviation sector, facing tough conditions in the wake of global slowdown.

It should be recalled that Kingfisher and Jet Airlines announced air fare hike despite significant decline in ATF, leading to make air travel dearer. Meanwhile government said that it would not allow cartelisation and may reinstate taxes to avoid the trend.

DCGA asked airlines to display the fare as one composite fare including basic fare and fuel surcharge, congestion charge and passenger service fee.