CEO Ronojoy Dutta said fares in India will only go up due to high indirect taxation by the government and a steep cost structure due to rupee depreciation. He added that fares needed to be firm for the airline industry to survive after being devastated by the impact of the pandemic.
“If one books in advance, one can get a good rate. But the averages (fares) need to be there where they are, otherwise we will all go out of business,” he said.
Declining Covid-19 cases and increasing vaccination numbers have led to rising confidence and a consistent uptick in demand for leisure travel. India recorded 8,865 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, the least in a day in over nine months. Active cases accounted for less than 1% of total cases and were at 0.38%, the lowest since March last year.
Strong pent-up demand is resulting in a surge in domestic air travel, given the limited reopening of international routes, said Indiver Rastogi, president and group head for global business travel at Thomas Cook India and SOTC.
“For example, a surge of 100% from Ahmedabad to Port Blair started during the long weekend of Dussehra,” he said. “For other destinations, the surge continues for the Christmas/holidays season. Goa being a holiday favourite has seen an increase of 10-30% from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and a hike of 50% from Ahmedabad. There has also been an increase of 5-10% in airfares for Kashmir from Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata while Bengaluru has also observed a 10% hike for Chandigarh.”
A Delhi-Goa return trip on Cleartrip for travel on December 24-January 2 could set you back by Rs 21,165 if booked now. The fare for the same route for the upcoming weekend (November 19-22) on the portal is Rs 15,732. The Mumbai-Udaipur round trip fare on ixigo for travel between November 26 and December 1 is about Rs 10,000 but the round-trip fare for the same route for year-end travel–December 25-January 1–is around Rs 14,176 currently. Thomas Cook said Mumbai-Goa return fare in October was around Rs 8,000 and is at Rs 15,000 for travel in end-December. The company said the Mumbai-Srinagar flight fare was Rs 14,000 previously but is now around Rs 25,000.
EaseMyTrip CEO and cofounder Nishant Pitti said there’s significant demand for leisure travel and the platform is witnessing an average price increase of around 10% on a weekly basis, up 15% from last month.
“There has been a jump of nearly 30% in airfares for the Delhi-Goa-Delhi route and the Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai route since September,” he said. “There is a jump of around 25% in airfares for advance bookings that have happened till November 15 for next month.” India is still regulating fares for the next 15 days of travel.
Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur and Tirupati are the most popular destinations seeing the highest price increase from October to November on Cleartrip, said chief business officer Prahlad Krishnamurthi. While the Mumbai to Udaipur fare is up 17% from last month, Delhi to Goa is up 15%.
Domestic travel demand is picking up every week, said ixigo cofounder and group chief product and technology officer Rajnish Kumar.
“Fares for leisure travel destinations have gone up higher than the city routes,” he said. “Average fares for popular holiday getaways like Goa and Jaipur during the winter season have seen a 10-15% month-on-month increase.”
Travellers should book their tickets for winter holidays in advance as strong demand for leisure travel can result in higher airfare patterns in the coming month.
