Delhi's Mungeshpur area shattered records on Wednesday, logging a scorching 52.3 degrees Celsius - the highest temperature ever recorded in the city
Domestic airfares are sailing northwards, surging up to 40 per cent in key routes on higher traffic and capacity constraints in the last six quarters. Still, ticket prices are among the lowest in the world, according to experts. India is one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets and on average, 4.5 lakh passengers travel on domestic flights daily. While only a small percentage of the country's population travels by air, capacity constraints are a key challenge as many aircraft are grounded mainly due to supply chain issues. Aviation consultancy firm CAPA India said that average fares on the top 20 domestic routes had not moved significantly in nominal terms for the last two decades, until the last six quarters during which they have been up by close to 40 per cent. The routes include Mumbai-Delhi, Bengaluru-Delhi, Bengaluru-Mumbai and Delhi-Hyderabad. The trend has been driven by serious capacity shortages with an average of 150 aircraft on the ground due to supply
High airfares remain a challenge that impacts India's leisure and business travellers, Thomas Cook India's Executive Chairman Madhavan Menon said. In an interview with PTI, he shared that airline capacity too continues to be a challenge despite an increase in scheduled flights. "We hope to see the demand-supply constraints ease a bit with new aircraft being introduced into the network, but this will be over the long term," Menon said. On the company's expansion plans, he informed that Thomas Cook India is working on expanding and strengthening its physical network with a combination of owned and franchise outlets and accelerating its digital footprint in the country. "With a focus on viable source markets, we continue our retail expansion with a combination of owned and franchise outlets, across metros/mini-metros and regional India. "Additionally, for our foreign exchange business, we have leveraged existing franchise outlets to set up foreign exchange counters within the same ..
However, the data also shows that summer airfares on key routes such as Delhi-Leh and Delhi-Kolkata have significantly decreased due to the introduction of new flights
While Vistara has not specified the duration of the capacity cut, it will likely remain in effect until at least the end of April, keeping fares high on affected routes during this period
IndiGo, India's largest carrier, has been the most severely affected by the congestion-induced cancellations
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday announced the withdrawal of fuel charge that was collected from passengers, a move that will reduce airfares by up to Rs 1,000 on certain long routes. In the wake of a spike in jet fuel prices, the airline started levying the fuel charge on each domestic and international ticket from October 6, 2023. The quantum of the fuel charge varied from Rs 300 to up to Rs 1,000 depending on the distance. The airline, which is expanding its operations, said the fuel charge has been withdrawn with effect from January 4, due to the recent reduction in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices. "As ATF prices are dynamic, we will continue to adjust our fares and components thereof, to respond to any change in prices or market conditions," IndiGo said in a statement. Fuel cost accounts for a significant chunk of a carrier's operational costs. Last year, IndiGo was also the first Indian carrier to announce that they would levy fuel charge to offset the spi
This month, the priority is to maintain fares at a reasonable level to ensure consistently high load factors
Fare 'adjustment' comes as airlines seek to rectify missteps taken before Diwali
The Civil Aviation Ministry has a tariff monitoring unit (TMU) that monitors airfares between 30 days to one day ahead of a scheduled flight
Domestic carriers have offered a fee waiver on flight cancellations or rescheduling of the impacted flights to their passengers
On the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, ticket prices decreased marginally from Rs 3,700 to Rs 3,650 in the aforementioned period
The price reduction in airfares comes at a time when airlines are incurring higher costs, including jet fuel and airport charges
Travel firms have also noticed a shift in the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) trend usually seen during festivals
In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views
Limited capacity, high demand pushing up ticket prices
The Union government has refused to intervene in the issue of exorbitant airfares for travel to Kerala during the upcoming Onam season stating that dynamic pricing is in place and travellers have to book in advance. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Office said in a release on Saturday that the Centre has refused to intervene in the issue. Vijayan had on July 5 sought the intervention of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the matter, saying the exorbitant prices would impact numerous Keralites residing both in India and West Asia who are eagerly planning to return home for Onam festivities. In a letter to the chief minister, Scindia informed him that the aviation companies have the authority to decide the airfares, the release said. "There is only an increase of 9.77 per cent during the festival season. Since only the dynamic pricing system is in place, the only option is to book tickets in advance," the release said, quoting the letter from the Union minister. Steep
The group has seen a rise in bookings at its properties in Goa, Jim Corbett and Shimla, and Storii Amoha Retreat in Himachal Pradesh
IndiGo's profitability may be affected in the July to September quarter (Q2) of FY24 owing to lower fares in a seasonally weak quarter and higher fuel prices, analysts said
Fares on the Mumbai-Delhi route (for travel on Wednesday), however, increased 29% to Rs 7,394 as compared to last week