CHENNAI: Flying to Thiruvananthapuram from the city will be expensive for the rest of the week as one-way
fares on the route shot up after flight operations at Cochin International
Airport were suspended till Saturday due to heavy rain and floods.
One-way fare to Thiruvananthapuram has crossed the Rs 10,000 mark on
direct flights, while the fare is in the range of Rs 13,500 to Rs 35,000 on
flights with stopovers at Bengaluru or Mumbai. While direct flights to Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday and Friday are sold out, tickets on the two one-stop flights by Air India on August 18 costs Rs 33,500 to Rs 54,000.
On Wednesday, 14 flights between Chennai and Kochi were cancelled after announcement that the Kochi airport will be closed till August 18. This has affected weekend travellers and those who were heading to the city for the festival of Onam, which is only a week away.
The fare has spiked due to demand from passengers trying to book trips to Thiruvananthapuram after their flights to Kochi were cancelled. Thiruvananthapuram is closest to Kochi by road and is less affected by the flooding.
An airline official said another reason for direct flights from Chennai to be full was people travelling from the Gulf and southeast Asian countries trying to get to Kerala from Chennai as their Kochi flights were cancelled.
July-September is considered lean season for the route and one-way air fare to Thiruvananthapuram even a day prior to the journey is usually between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000.
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