SpiceJet will stop ops to Dubai from Dec 15

Mangaluru: With SpiceJet ending its operations between Dubai and Mangaluru from December 15, passengers are likely to cough up more for travel since there’ll only be two low-cost airlines operating directly to the United Arab Emirates from Mangaluru International Airport - Air India Express and Indigo.
Already the air fares have peaked during vacation time, almost a month in advance, and are likely to get worse as the holiday dates near because of the extra demand and limited seats due to SpiceJet pulling out of its Middle East operations.
Presently, the one-way fare to Dubai from Mangaluru is in the excess of Rs 17,000 from December 16 onwards and peaks from December 21 till January first week to about Rs 32,000. Fares from Dubai to Mangaluru are in excess of Rs 32,000 for travel from December 15 till December 26, as most of the expats will be returning home for the holiday/wedding season.
Airline and agents said that the actual effect of the cancellation of SpiceJet will be known after December 15. “Even now fares are not low, both ways. But with the SpiceJet cancellation, there will be an additional 165 passengers available for two airlines with only three direct flights to Dubai. So, when the demand is high, we can see airfares also increase, but by how much it is too early to predict,” they said.
As of now Air India Express operates two direct flights to Dubai, one in the morning and another in the evening, whereas Indigo operates one direct flight. But Indigo has several connecting options via Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, with Bengaluru having the shortest layover of 9 hours. Even the one stop flight by Indigo also does not come cheap, save a couple of thousand rupees.