The cost of air tickets, especially on flights operated by low-cost carriers (LCCs), had been heading for the moon since Diwali, with flying to Dubai becoming cheaper than to Delhi.
A day after civil aviation minister Praful Patel and the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) took serious note of the issue, airfares began to normalise on Thursday, falling by as much as 300% on some routes.
Fares on flights coming to the city, however, continue to be exorbitant.
The cost of air tickets, especially on flights operated by low-cost carriers (LCCs), had been heading for the moon since Diwali, with flying to Dubai becoming cheaper than to Delhi.
However, sanity returned to the tarmac on Thursday. “On November 18, even for last-minute bookings on LCCs, a Mumbai-Delhi ticket was available in the range of Rs5,386 to Rs8,269, while a Mumbai-Kolkata seat was going for Rs6,266,” said a travel agent.
Since November 5, fares on routes like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore had tripled, becoming 10 times higher by November 17, when the DGCA sent a circular to the airlines asking them to explain the sudden rise despite no increase in operational costs.
A Mumbai-Delhi ticket, which normally costs Rs3,251 upwards increased to Rs16,132 and even touched Rs21,000, while a Mumbai-Kolkata ticket that costs Rs4,101 upwards was available for no less than Rs15,184 on low-cost airlines like Jetlite, Indigo, Goair and Spicejet.
Though the outgoing fares have now come down, those on flights arriving at Mumbai and Bangalore are still steep. For instance, the fare for a Delhi-Mumbai was between Rs16,449 and Rs23,037 on LCCs on Thursday, while a Mumbai-Delhi flight ticket was available for Rs5,386 to Rs8,269. A ticket to Bangalore from Mumbai was priced between Rs10,325 and Rs14,269, while the other way was Rs7,271 upwards.
"This is because people from Mumbai and Bangalore had gone for holidays to their native places," said Rajesh Rateria, chairman, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). "They are now returning, which is causing this fare hike," he said.
According to Rajeev Batra, executive director, KPMG Advisory Services, the airfares have been high this winter due to shrinking capacity. "While the load had increased, airlines have not enhanced their capacity, which they had reduced during recession," he said.
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