Fall in air fares brings festive cheer

Fares for flights from Delhi to Mumbai on Deepavali eve start between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000. Similarly, the starting range for fares from Chennai to Delhi is between Rs 4,200 and Rs 5,000, and for Hyderabad to Delhi between Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,500, according to travel portals. 

Top routes like Delhi-Mumbai and Hyderabad-Delhi have seen a drop in fares by 38 per cent and 32 per cent respectively, stated the data shared by online travel portal Yatra.com. These figures are for the tickets booked a week in advance. Airfares are usually known to skyrocket during festivals owing to a spurt in demand. 

Interestingly, last-minute fares too have shown a decline. Experts, however, maintained that a fall in passenger demand at a time airlines have enhanced capacity on certain routes has sent the fares tumbling down. 

“Higher capacity deployed by all airlines combined with lower demand has pulled down the overall pricing this season,” said Balu Ramachandran, Head - Air and Distribution, Cleartrip. Meanwhile, fares have increased on a few sectors like Delhi-Bangalore and Mumbai-Goa by 15 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively. 

“The last-minute fares are on the lower side when compared to previous year due to increased capacity on popular routes. However, on routes where there has been no significant increase in capacity, we have observed high fares,” Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra, said in response to an e-mail query.