Peak season past, spot airfares soften

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₹4,900 in July from ₹7,200-plus in the previous month, down by around 50%. Likewise, spot fares for Mumbai-Goa dipped to around ₹1,500 from over ₹3,200, declining 112%. For Mumbai-Lucknow, last-minute fares have contracted to almost ₹5,000 from ₹9,000 earlier, while Delhi-Kolkata shrunk to around ₹5,200 as compared to over ₹8200 in June.

While airfares have softened as compared to the levels seen in April-June, it has seen a significant increase from pre-covid levels, especially on international routes. “Destinations like Europe and the Far East have seen strong impact, and it is noteworthy that we saw an uptick of 20-40% in air pricing over pre-covid," said Indiver Rastogi, president and group head, global business travel, at Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel. At present, airfare for Singapore is at ₹32,000, up 28% from around ₹25,000 in 2019, while flights to Phuket have risen from ₹22,000 earlier to ₹27,000, according to Thomas Cook.

Similarly, fares to Zurich and Paris which used to be at ₹55,000 are now available for ₹75,000, up 36%. The company said domestic airfares from major hubs such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, surged 40-150% over pre pandemic, while metro routes have seen 10-30% increase. When compared with the spot fares in January, July has seen higher fares on account of less capacity, owing to the suspension of operations by low-cost carrier Go First which had a 6.4% domestic market share.

Besides, global supply chain issues have slowed the pace of new aircraft induction for airlines. With demand declining, airfares are higher from January levels due to less capacity. “Spot fares in July are about 2% higher compared to January," said Gaurav Patwari, vice president, air