Festival season travel drives air passenger traffic; spot rates hit Rs 18,000 on Delhi-Mumbai route

Bookings have climbed up to 40 percent of 2019 levels in the domestic aviation industry, as people head to their hometowns to be with relatives and friends during the festive season.

Much of the push is coming on routes from metros to cities and towns in the eastern parts of the country. These include, Patna, Ranchi and Kolkata. While the five-day Durga Puja celebration begins from October 22, Diwali falls on November 14.

Interestingly, there are signs of a revival in corporate travel too, with spot rate on the Delhi-Mumbai route even touching the Rs 18,000-mark, well over the cap that was set by the Ministry of Civil Aviation while resuming domestic flights in May. The cap for the route, otherwise the busiest in India, was set at Rs 10,000.

“In the unlock phase, we are witnessing an increase in booking inquires with travelers now moving from essential to leisure travel. Travelers are looking for destination that assures them that all necessary measures are being taken care of," a spokesperson of online travel agency Yatra.com, told Moneycontrol.

"During this festive season, we have seen a spike in bookings being made to destinations such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Varanasi, Ranchi, Lucknow and Kolkata as travelers plan their trip to hometowns and nearby destinations for leisure," the executive added.

Ever since the domestic flights resumed in May, air passenger traffic has been making a slow, but steady, growth. In September, domestic air traffic had jumped 39 percent month-on-month, the biggest growth since the lockdown.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had recently commented that the domestic aviation sector will reach pre-pandemic levels by the first quarter of 2020. Earlier, he had expected the industry to reach the level by Diwali (November).

Routes and fares

"For Dussehra and Diwali, top routes are predominantly from major business centres like Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi to destinations in the east and north such as Patna, New Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Varanasi," said Aditya Agarwal, Head of Corporate Strategy at Cleartrip. 

The Mumbai to Goa route, he added, was the "only traditional leisure route that features in top 10 in both these festivals."

The COVID-19 pandemic had seen routes to tier-3 cities such as Patna and Srinagar, topping the traditional favourites, including Delhi-Mumbai, which is otherwise the busiest. The festival travel has reinforced the trend.

Airlines are thus giving more space to these destinations in their network planning. On October 20, SpiceJet announced 58 domestic flights, many of which were additional frequencies to destinations such as Varanasi, Patna and Dharamshala.

Fares have inched up, with average fares at Rs 4,254 for travel for Durga Puja, and going up to Rs 4,552 for Diwali. While these are still lower than the rates in 2019, the gap is narrowing, say industry observers.

Agarwal of Cleartrip points out that fliers continue to book closer to the travel date, a trend seen during the COVID-19 times as uncertainty continues to remain.

"From last week of May till around August end, the share of bookings for less than 2 weeks of travel was in the range of 77 percent to 86 percent. Since September we have seen this come down to just below 70 percent in the last two weeks," says Agarwal.