Stranded fliers cause 10% rise in hotel prices

No let up in haze over Europe, expected for five more days

As forecasters said the haze over Europe will stay for five more days, stranded passengers have caused hotel rates in New Delhi and Mumbai to climb 10 per cent. Travellers in large numbers have cancelled their tickets on flights to Europe, USA and Canada, rather than extend them to a later date.

STIC Travel Group Chairman Subhash Goyal said the rates would have climbed further had the arrival of tourists from the West not been hit by the haze. “So the increase is not very steep,” said he. Inbound travel, some experts said, could be down as much as 10 per cent. A Cox & Kings spokesperson said hotel rates have risen over 5 per cent for new bookings. Hotels in Beijing and Singapore are also straining to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers.

“This is the worst-ever air space closure in Europe. The situation is going to remain the same over the weekend. Around 30 per cent of travellers from India go to Europe and America, and most of them are cancelling for now,” said Amadeus India Managing Director Ankur Bhatia, an airline ticketing system provider.

“People are stuck overseas and in India. People who had booked to come have cancelled their tickets. The foreign tourist arrivals for May will get affected by 5 to 10 per cent due to this crisis,” added Le Passage to India Managing Director Arjun Sharma.

Indian and international airlines alike did not operate their flights from India to Europe and USA for the third consecutive day on Saturday. All the three Indian carriers that fly abroad — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — have cancelled flights to the West and are not charging any penalty on cancellations by passengers. Jet Airways, however, has received permission to fly through Athens in Greece as a temporary alternate transit point for flights to USA and Canada. The first flight for Newark will depart from Mumbai on Sunday.

Even though eruptions from the volcano have shrunk to a height of 8 km from 11 km when they started three days ago, forecasters said that steady eruptions did not necessarily mean the volcano is subsiding. The eruptions could go for at least five more days. Also, the volcano has erupted after around 200 years, making it difficult for the forecasters to project anything about it.

Meanwhile, 200 tonnes of cargo has piled up at the Delhi airport, which will now be sent once the flights resume to the West. The airport handles 500 tonnes of cargo daily, out of which 100 tonnes go to Europe and the US. “We have 200 tonnes of cargo at the airport to be sent to the region as soon as the flights resume. We have enough space for the extra cargo,” said a source at the airport. The airport does not send any perishable item to the region.