Ahmedabad: Domestic airfares surge up to 200% amid holiday demand

AHMEDABAD: Nikhil Amin, a resident of Vejalpur, had to make an emergency work trip from Ahmedabad to Delhi last week.
A round trip flight cost him Rs 15,000 to Delhi when booked about two days in advance. With high demand for holidays and people looking to escape the heatwave this summer, north-bound destinations are a hit among summer vacationers. As a result, airfares to north-bound destinations as well as other popular holiday destinations have spiked dramatically and to certain destinations, as high as 200% against normal fare.
For instance, round trip airfare from Ahmedabad to Jammu – a connecting point to popular tourist destinations in Kashmir has gone up from Rs 7,500 customarily to Rs 22,700 per person. Other destinations which have seen similar spikes include Goa (115%), Delhi (143%), Chandigarh (190%), Bagdogra (150%) and Dehradun (140%), among others.
Anuj Pathak, president, Tour Operators and Travel Agents’ Association of Gujarat (TAG), said, “With Covid-19 cases receding, restrictions related to the pandemic being lifted and norms being eased for flying and curfew timings across destinations, the travel sentiment is very bullish. Consequently, airfares have spiked tremendously to destinations, particularly those which connect hill stations. The merciless heat has compelled people to pick hill station destinations with colder climates this summer.”
With higher demand and limited supply, overall airfares have gone up. It is recently that the runway resurfacing activity too concluded at the city airport during which the number of flights had been reduced.
As a result, airfares had skyrocketed to various destinations. Even after some 15 new flights to domestic as well as international destinations have been launched after the runway resumed fully a month ago, airfares continue to remain high in wake of high demand.