Spike in last-minute ticket prices: Air fares up 65% on holiday demand

Last-minute domestic flight ticket prices are up 65% on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis on the back of strong travel demand during the Christmas-New Year week, according to online travel portals.

The spike in last-minute airfares is in contrast to 2015 when fares registered a decline. Last-minute airfares in December 2015 were 35-40% lower than the same month in 2014. In fact, average fares throughout 2015 were the cheapest in three years owing to a combination of low crude oil price and capacity addition.

According to Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer (B2C) at Yatra.com, on an average, there is a 15-20% increase in last-minute fares in December. On certain routes, the increase is as high as 65%. 

 

“These fares are as a result of increased passenger loads in the peak holiday season. Demonetisation impacted the sales initially but since then, things are back to normal. We’ve seen a growth in last-minute bookings, which is driving up fares,” said Dhall. 

A one-way Mumbai-Delhi ticket booked on Monday for immediate travel was available of Rs 6,621 — a rise of 66.4% over the previous year. Last-minute fares on other metro routes booked on Monday were 13-23% higher on a y-o-y basis than 2015, according to data provided by Yatra.com. 

Fares are up on a month-on-month basis, too. According to MakeMyTrip, there has been a 12-15% increase in last-minute fares in December compared to November. 

The highest growth in average last-minute fares in December was seen on the Coimbatore-Chennai route, which saw 61.5% increase on a y-o-y basis. This was followed by Mumbai-Chennai (56.7%) and Ahmedabad-Delhi (52.9% ), MakeMyTrip noted. The average fares were calculated for the period between December 1 and 21. 

“We have not seen a significant drop in domestic bookings following demonetisation. In fact, passenger traffic grew 22% in November. This week, we are seeing higher demand because it is a peak season for leisure travel,” said Manoj Chacko, chief executive officer of SOTC's business travel division.