Holiday airfares surge, double in some routes

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Planning to fly during the festival season? Prepare to shell out a lot more this year. Airfares for the Navratri season on some routes have doubled compared to the levels seen last year as well as in the pre-covid year of 2019, while fares in other routes remain elevated, data from travel portal Ixigo showed. Average fares for a Bengaluru-Kolkata flight during the second half of the Navratri period have shot up to over ₹14,000 from nearly ₹7,000 in the same period a year ago.

Similarly, average fares for a Mumbai-Kolkata flight during the period are up by over 55% to more than ₹12,000, and up 25% to more than ₹10,000 for a Bengaluru-Patna flight. For Diwali, which falls in the second week of November, average fares are already up to 70% more expensive than during the same season last year. A Bengaluru-Mumbai flight is 67% costlier, at approximately ₹5,000 on average, while a Bengaluru-Lucknow fare is up by 41% to more than ₹10,000.

Similarly, a Chennai-Mumbai flight fare has spiked by 56% to over ₹5,600 for the period. “For the upcoming festive season, there has been a notable spike of 72% in airfares when compared to the previous year. The route experiencing the most substantial increase is Delhi to Ahmedabad, followed closely by the Delhi to Srinagar route, which has seen an 89% surge," said Nishant Pitti, chief executive and co-founder of EaseMyTrip.

This year, there has been an increase in advance bookings as well. Ixigo data shows flyers are booking at least 30 days in advance this year for both Navratri and Diwali, with advance bookings up by 30-35% from last year. EaseMyTrip has seen tickets booked as early as 80 days before travel.