Diwali week airfares skyrocket, dampen festive season spirits

The festival of lights is more than seven weeks away but skyrocketing airfares are already dampening the festive mood. Those wishing to travel home or to their loved ones are faced with the prospect of coughing up extortionary airfares.

Business Today did a spot check of return fares on various routes for the dates October 30 to November 3. Diwali falls on November 1 this year. On metro routes, fares on these days were anywhere between 50-200 per cent higher. We particularly avoided ‘red-eye’ flights.

Bengaluru to Delhi return fares start at a whopping Rs 25,000 while Hyderabad to Delhi were a little more affordable at Rs 15,500. Tickets from Chennai to Delhi and back, however, start at Rs 23,000.

Non-metro routes like Mumbai-Patna-Mumbai are ludicrously expensive at Rs 30,000. Mumbai-Lucknow return also starts at Rs 18,000.

Curiously, those beginning their holiday earlier on October 26 have to dish out more.

For this week-long holiday, Mumbai-Delhi return tickets start at Rs 20,000 while the cost of Bengaluru-Delhi return ticket rises to Rs 27,000. Chennai-Delhi tickets for this weekend travel start at Rs 27,500.

It’s not as if travellers have other options available. Trains are already booked for the period with waiting lists extending into hundreds. Indian Railways will be running some special trains but the rush is such that bookings on some routes has already been closed.

Experts blame the rise in airfares on the changing scenario in Indian skies. Go Air, a major airline till two years ago, has folded its wings. SpiceJet is financially strapped and its 20-strong fleet is literally flying on a wing and a prayer. The Indian airspace is now virtually a duopoly with IndiGo on one side and the Tata-owned Air India-Vistara combine and Air India Express-Air Asia India on the other.

The spike in airfares is despite an 18 percent drop in aviation fuel prices this calendar year.