Indian flyers from quake-hit Japan pay through the nose

Pay Rs2 lakh for a flight ticket from Tokyo to India!

We are not talking about business or first class fares. Airlines are charging these rates for economy class, as panic-stricken people flee from quake-hit Japan.

A random search done by DNA for fares on the Tokyo-India sector on the Cleartrip website for travel on Saturday showed that one-way ticket prices of some airlines have moved up to as high as Rs2 lakh.

Industry experts and travel agents say the current fares are almost two to three times of what airlines were charging for last-minute booking before the earthquake struck the island nation about a week back.

Anoop Kanuga, director, Bathija Travels believes a sharp decline in capacity on the sector could have resulted in  fares flying skywards. He estimated that the airlines have reduced 20% capacity between Japan and India. “Airlines have slashed the number of flights between Japan and India. Flights from India (to Japan) are going empty while those returning from Japan are full,” said Kanuga.

Normally, a one-way economy ticket for travel from India to Japan would be around Rs25,000-30,000.

A senior executive of gulf carrier Emirates, who did not want to be named, said the mass exodus from Japan could have led to a sudden spike in demand for air tickets and this was pushing up the fares. Typically, airlines follow a dynamic fare system to optimise their yield — net revenue per seat — on each flight. Such a system allows them to sell the last few seats on a flight at exorbitant prices. “Abnormally high demand for seats for flights flying out of Tokyo could be the reason fares are so high,” said the executive.

An executive with Air India said the national carrier had added more flights between Japan and India, keeping its fares at reasonable levels.