Smog, closed runway make Delhi-Mumbai air travel expensive as ticket prices shoot up to Rs 29,000

Smoggy weather and a closed runway made air travel to Delhi from Mumbai extremely expensive as prices shoot up to as high as Rs 29,000.

Besides bad weather, Delhi's IGI airport's three runways are also closed for maintenance till 10 AM on Friday leading cancellation of over 300 flights. 

On Wednesday,starting price of one-way ticket for Mumbai-Delhi flight was at Rs 24,000. For nonstop flight the fare later went up to Rs 29,000. 

Many travel portals were showing fare of one or more stop flights between Rs 15,500-Rs 25,000. 

On Tuesday, booking a ticket costed around Rs 19,600 and had gone up to Rs 29,000.

Generally, tickets to the mentioned route are around Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. 

As air quality worsened drastically in Delhi-NCR, CISF Director General OP Singh directed distribution of masks to the force's personnel deployed across the city. About 8,000 masks were distributed.

Many flyers from Delhi took to social media on Tuesday and narrated their ordeal, after they were left stranded at the airport.

Airlines, however, replying to the passengers' queries, claimed Air Traffic Control (ATC) slowdown was a major reason for flight disruptions.

Airport operator DIAL had earlier said that its runway 29-11 would remain shut for three days, during November 7-10, because of maintenance work. This, officials said, added to the slowdown of air traffic.