Airfare soars as festive season rings in

MANGALURU: All modes of public transport have cashed in on the festive season and escalated their ticket fares by manifold.

Airfares, especially, have shot over three times thanks to the rising demand for tickets. A sizeable population from Bengaluru and Mumbai will travel to the erstwhile twin districts of Dakshina Kannada to celebrate Christmas and New Year with their family back home.

A Google search on fare for flights from Mumbai to Mangaluru for December 21 and 22 shows the fare pegged at over Rs 24,000 for a one-way trip. This is at least a threefold increase in the fare as the one-way trip fare between the two cities would hover around Rs 8,000 on a regular day. However, a flight from Mangaluru to Mumbai shows a normal fare of around Rs 7,000.

A flight from Bengaluru to this coastal city in the next couple of days costs above Rs 16,000 for economy class, what would otherwise cost less than Rs 2,500.

This is not the case with airlines alone. Even private buses have doubled ticket fares to Mangaluru for the next couple of days. A ticket that would generally cost around Rs 700 now costs over Rs 1,300 and invariably, travellers are facing the brunt.

Jay Mayya, a marketing professional here, said he would be taking a bus to Bengaluru on December 21 and was scheduled to return the next day. While he did easily secured his departure, bus booking apps show the buses back to Mangaluru are running full even though ticket prices have almost doubled.

Sonal D, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said while tickets for a flight from the national capital to Mangaluru have skyrocketed to over Rs 20,000, there are hardly any tickets available on a zero-stop flight. Trains, too, have been running full with Sonal now hoping for a seat on a Tatkal ticket.

Interestingly, a ticket from the UAE, where a huge population from Mangaluru is employed, to Mangaluru comes cheaper than the above mentioned domestic flights.