New Delhi: The Director General of Civil Aviation has scrapped the 25 per cent cap imposed on airlines for preferential seat selection by passengers on advance booking.

The 25 per cent cap had meant that airlines could charge a higher cost for preferential seating for upto 25 per cent of the seats on a flight. But the removal of the cap now technically means that airlines can charge a premium (higher cost) for beyond 25 per cent of seats in a flight, if the seats are deemed preferential.

The DGCA had in 2013 allowed airlines to charge a higher cost for preferential seats that passengers wanted which mainly included seats where there was more leg-room. But a cap of 25 per cent was then imposed.

However, the DGCA later found that the number of preferential seats in flights sold at a higher cost was only about 7 per cent of the available seats.

The scrapping of the 25 per cent cap means that airlines can now charge higher fares for upto 100 per cent of the seats, although the DGCA does not expect such an outcome since airlines cannot justify marking such a large percentage of seats as preferential.

Airlines too apparently complained that they could not accept requests by groups of passengers because of the 25 per cent cap.

“The 25 per cent limit on preferential seat selection on advance booking has been scrapped,” DGCA sources said on Thursday.