Those who travel by plane in the summer months have to pay more for domestic flights. Airfares have already increased by 20 to 25 percent due to cancellation of Vistara Airlines flights and passenger demand. Industry experts say demand for summer air travel remains high each year. However, this year the aviation industry faces many challenges in increasing capacity in line with demand. Even larger planes are used on domestic routes.
Flight prices have increased due to the cancellation of more than 100 flights of Tata Group-owned Vistara Airlines currently. Facing anger from pilots, the airline reduced its capacity to 25 to 30 flights a day, or 10%. An analysis by travel site Ixigo showed that some flight prices increased by up to 39 percent in the period April 1-7 compared to the period March 1-7. During this period, the one-way fare of Delhi-Bengaluru flights increased by 39% per cent during this period , while Delhi-Srinagar flights increased by 30%.
According to the analysis, the fare increase was 12 per cent in case of Delhi-Mumbai flight services and eight per cent in case of Mumbai-Delhi services. Bharat Malik, senior vice president (aircraft and hotel business), travel portal Yatra Online, said the average airfares are estimated to increase between 20-25 per cent in the current summer flight schedule, covering both domestic and international routes.
Malik said, “Vistara’s decision to cut flights by 10 per cent has impacted ticket prices on major domestic routes. We have seen a significant increase in fares. Delhi-Goa, Delhi-Kochi, Delhi-Jammu and Delhi-Srinagar. As prices on major routes have increased by about 20-25 per cent.”
He said that one of the main reasons for the increased air fares is the reduction in flight operations by Vistara. Apart from this, increasing demand for summer travel along with rising fuel costs has also played a role in increasing fares. Jagan Narayan Padmanabhan, senior director and global head (transport and logistics) at CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, said, “Fares are expected to increase by five-seven per cent as the peak season approaches. Most of the travel is going to be done for personal reasons and with family.
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