Air fares rise due to Kingfisher cancellations

Cashing in on Kingfisher's flight cancellations, major airlines have jacked up their fares on many busy air routes by 10-25% over the past few days.

On the busiest Delhi-Mumbai route on which the one-way airfares average about Rs 4,500-5,000, the prevailing ticket prices of other airlines ranged between Rs 6,555 and Rs 7,305.

Similarly, on the Delhi-Bangalore sector, one-way fare rose from an average of Rs 6,000-7,500 to about Rs 12,000-14,000. The Delhi-Kolkata route saw a jump from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,500.

Travel agents also confirmed the development, saying large-scale cancellations by Kingfisher on some of the popular sectors Bangalore-Delhi have almost doubled.

A Delhi-based travel agent, requesting anonymity, said air travellers booked on Kingfisher were having to pay an additional Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 for each ticket to complete their flight as they were forced to rebook their tickets at the last moment.

They said the lower-priced tickets had vanished soon after Kingfisher abruptly started cancelling flights from Friday night.

Kingfisher today cancelled almost 40 flights across the country, including those to Bangkok, Singapore, Kathmandu and Dhaka, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at various airports across the country. The cancellations included 14 from Mumbai, seven from Kolkata and six from Delhi.