<h1>Govt caps airfares, orders automatic refunds as airline crisis deepens; pilots contest relaxed flight duty time limits</h1> A domestic airline has cancelled over 800 flights amid an ongoing operational crisis, prompting the civil aviation ministry to impose temporary airfare caps and mandate passenger protection measures. The airline must complete automatic refunds for cancelled or disrupted flights by a specified Sunday evening deadline, waive rescheduling charges, establish dedicated support and refund cells, and ensure separated baggage is delivered within 48 hours. The government warned of regulatory action for non-compliance and set sector-wise fare ceilings, excluding taxes and specific fees, applicable across all booking channels. Separately, a pilots' association challenged recent regulator relaxations to flight duty time limitations as contrary to court-directed fatigue-mitigation standards, raising safety and parity concerns.