Passengers who booked tickets directly only to get credit shell facility, Centre apprises SC

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the statutory body which investigates aviation accidents and incidents, has told the Supreme Court that the credit shell offer will be restricted to passengers who booked tickets directly from the airline companies.

During the hearing of the case regarding airfare refunds for flight booked during lockdown, the Centre also made it clear that refund will not be applicable to flights originating outside India even if the carrier is a national company.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy & MR Shah had sought a response from the Central government as to whether credit shell facility could apply to tickets issued by travel agents.

While submitting its response, the Centre said that involvement of the travel agent in purchase of any ticket result in leaving the principal contract between the airlines and the passenger and clarified that DGCA has no role in that "private contract".