There may be good news in store for flyers. The Union Ministry for Civil Aviation may cap the cancellation fee charged by airlines. Domestic airlines presently charge as high as Rs 3000 as cancellation fee.

The government now plans to ask airlines to reduce this charge.

"We believe cancellation charges are on the high side and onerous for passengers. The Rs 3,000 fee is in many cases more than the price of the ticket itself. Our UDAN (subsidised regional flying) scheme has capped fares at Rs 2,500 per hour of flying. These cancellation charges need to be brought back into balance," Union Minister of State for Aviation Jayant Sinha told The Times of India on Tuesday.

This is not the first time that the minister has spoken on the issue.

Earlier in November,  Minister Sinha had said that he will look into the matter after some private airlines hiked their cancellation fees.

The minister had then tweeted, “We will take up these matters with the airlines,” quoting a user asking if the ministry would intervene with the increased cancellation and excess baggage fees.

We will take up these matters with the airlines. https://t.co/GpM6BJvib3

— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) November 3, 2017

Media reports indicated that private airlines had hiked their cancellation charges starting with market leader Indigo.

On November 3, PTI reported that leading private airline Spicejet hiked its cancellation fee by Rs 500 to Rs 3,000 and Rs 3, 500 for domestic and international flights respectively from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3, 000.

The cost of cancelling a SpiceJet ticket for domestic and international tickets in January 2016 was only Rs 1,800 and Rs.2,349 respectively.