Four years ago, Iran Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said that the prices for domestic flights will be set only at free market and there will be no regulation anymore. At the beginning passengers who were not used to free market panicked that ticket prices would go up with no control. However, after a while costumers got used to the new pricing models and started to appreciate it.
But this week, a new notice from the ICAO has confused both travel agencies as well as passengers. The ICAO has set the lowest and the highest possible prices for 193 flying routes. According to this notice, prices can neither go higher nor below these thresholds. Travel agencies are asking if the prices are going to be set by free market rules, what makes it necessary to have caps or limits?
The highest cap is on Mashhad to Mahshar route for 14.6 million rials (around 132 USD) and the lowest limit is for short flights not to go lower than 1.7 million rials (15 USD).