Mumbai/New Delhi, Nov. 11:
Travellers who were looking for cheap options on the pre-Diwali weekend
were disappointed.
Despite the domestic air travel market shrinking, airfares were high on
various sectors over the weekend, with travel agents pegging the jump between
80 and 120 per cent.
Iqbal Mulla, President, Travel Agents Association of India, said
domestic airfares during this Diwali rose by as much as 150 per cent compared
with last year.
According to travel agents, a Delhi-Mumbai return ticket was priced at
Rs 30,000 over the weekend which is almost the same as the return fare between
Mumbai and Dubai or Mumbai and Bangkok.
Even in sectors like Mumbai-Indore and Mumbai-Nagpur witnessed a record
high in airfares for the Diwali weekend.
Travel agents maintain that a part of this increase can be attributed to
Kingfisher, with a market share of 19 per cent, not being operational this
year. This led to a reduction in the total number of flights and thus to higher
fares.
“Though Indigo and SpiceJet have added capacity, the presence of an
additional airline makes a difference in the airfares, especially in the peak
season,” says Sanjay Bhasin, MD, Goibibo.
Others like Amber Dubey, Partner and Head-Aviation KPMG, agree that
there has been an increase in domestic airfares. He, however, adds that in
winter last year the trend was of aggressive price cutting with extra-high
fares around high demand days.
“This year the trend is of pricing tickets above costs and then keeping
it within a narrow band. This may prove to be the right strategy in the long
run,” he says.
He cites the one-way spot fare on the Delhi-Mumbai route which is still
in the Rs 8,000-10,000 range both on pre and post weekends.
“This is ringing warning bells. The Government has to bring in
structural reforms now or else we may see some more domestic carriers in
serious distress,” adds Dubey.
Further, airlines also maintain that flyers have to pay such high fares
only if they go in for last minute bookings.
If one books in advance, the fares are not that steep, even for a
festival weekend like Diwali. Most full fare airlines offer lower fares if one
books seven, 15, 21 and 30 days in advance.
No comments:
Post a Comment