Domestic airfares rise 25% as Christmas travel boosts traffic

Hotel rates too have zoomed up

A surge in holiday-season demand and arrival of foreign tourists has pushed airfares for travel in the Christmas week by 25 per cent across the domestic network.

“Compared with last year, we have seen a 76 per cent increase in one-way fare between Mumbai and Goa but that on the Delhi-Goa route has risen just about eight per cent. Similarly, fares on the Mumbai-Kochi route have increased only seven per cent, but that on Mumbai-Thiruvanathapuram have zoomed 133 per cent. There’s no particular reason we see for the price spike on the Thiruvanathpuram route. Overall, the fares for travel up to January 2 are up 25 per cent,” said Tarique Khatri, senior vice-president (business development), Cleartrip.

Khatri said bookings on Cleatrip during the Christmas-New Year week had been robust. Hotel rates, too, had zoomed, deterring travellers. “A lot of hotels have been rented out and a five-night stay at a three-star hotel in Goa can cost up to Rs 41,000 for two,” he added.

“The domestic capacity has been increasing through the year, albeit slowly, and we have seen a 10 per cent increase over last year in bookings during the festive season,” said Yatra.com President Sharat Dhall.

According to MakemyTrip, airfares in December are, on an average, 15-33 per cent higher than the previous year. While routes like Bangalore-Delhi and Pune-Delhi have seen a fare increase of 15 per cent, Delhi-Kochi has seen a 33 per cent rise. Mumbai-Goa and Bangalore-Goa, too, have seen fare increase of more than 25 per cent, according to the portal.

The Christmas-New Year period is the peak season for travel and brings in additional passengers and revenue for airlines. This season, the considerable inflow of foreign visitors and non-resident Indians during the period could help increase passenger load factors for airlines, most of which have been in the red for the past two quarters.

John Nair, head (business travel), Cox & Kings, says: “Airfares are at least 30 per cent higher during the festive season. Passengers booking at the last moment have no option but to purchase tickets at high rates. We had introduced discount offers ahead of the travel season and the response has been fantastic.”

Airfares on popular international routes like Delhi-Kathmandu and Delhi-Bangkok have come down during the Christmas week, while the one-way fare on the Delhi-Sinagpore route has zoomed 130 percent, according to Khatri. Fares on the Mumbai-Dubai and Mumbai-Bangkok routes were also higher than last year, he added.