Sky-high airfares in India cast a shadow on Diwali travel plans

As the Diwali holidays draw closer, commuters looking to visit friends and family are facing a hurdle: exorbitant airfare costs.

Airfares have surged dramatically, witnessing around two to four times increase on various popular domestic routes. As a result, the soaring prices have thrown a wrench into travel plans during the coming festive week spanning from November 10 to 16.

But, why?

• Well, it is a no-brainer that the trend is a demand-driven one.
• Airline ticketing follows the dynamic faring, which means the more the demand for the flight, the more the fare.
• According to DGCA data, the lean period in 2023, after the summer holidays when the monsoon kicks in, has witnessed heightened domestic air traffic surpassing the peak festive season of last year (October 2022). Following this trend, the projections suggest that the demand for domestic air travel is on the up.
• Another factor that has made the situation worse this year is the limited flight capacity. The impact of Go First's insolvency and SpiceJet's financial challenges has narrowed available capacity, driving prices upwards due to the supply-demand dynamics.

• A bunch of IndiGo jets have been down too for a while now, owing to ongoing engine issues.

Price comparison

• A ticket to Patna from Delhi next week would cost around Rs 3800, whereas travelling on the same route before the Diwali weekend would cost around Rs 13,600. That's almost a 4X surge.

• Likewise on the Delhi- Ahmedabad route, a one-way ticket would cost around Rs 2800, which, later, on the Friday prior to Diwali would cost around Rs 5,500, which is almost double.

Drawing comparisons with the Diwali week of the previous year (October 21-27), the Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Patna- Patna and Delhi-Srinagar routes have seen a substantial surge in airfares for the festival period compared to 2022.

Short routes 

• Even the shorter routes like Patna-Kolkata and Delhi-Jaipur are showing a two to three-fold increase in airfares, which is expected to surge.
• Prominent routes like Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bengaluru might not show a considerable surge as in these routes the high passenger demands are met by an increased number of seats.

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Beyond domestic routes

• This trend isn't exclusive to domestic routes; it's the international routes as well. Airfares to long-haul destinations like Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Milan, Sydney, and London have seen a 10-20 per cent increase.
• Air India Express, to meet the increased demand has announced increased frequency on a few routes like Surat- Sharjah.

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