Summer pinch: Airfares on key routes rise up to 13%

Airfares on major domestic routes such as Kolkata-Bagdogra, Delhi-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Mumbai have witnessed an increase of up to 12.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in May this year, according to data by Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel.

The recent increase in aviation turbine fuel prices, rupee depreciation, reduction of flights by key players, and grounding of planes due to engine supply issues have contributed to the rise in airfares, said aviation industry experts.

However, the data also shows that summer airfares on key routes such as Delhi-Leh and Delhi-Kolkata have significantly decreased due to the introduction of new flights.

The ticket price on the Kolkata-Bagdogra route has surged to Rs 5,500 between May 1-10 this year, compared to an average economy class airfare of Rs 4,800 during the corresponding period last year, as per the data.

This data pertains to tickets purchased 30 days in advance.

There has been an increase in input costs like ATF (aviation turbine fuel), a slide in the rupee, which have pushed the input costs up.

Some sectors (routes) may have higher fares in anticipation of a good season and see a decrease in fares, leading up to the day of travel as was seen during November last year, Ameya Joshi, an aviation researcher and founder of the aviation blog Network Thoughts, told Business Standard.

The price of ATF has increased by approximately 2.5 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 100,893 per kilolitre in Delhi.

ATF costs comprise about 40 per cent of an airline's total expenditure in India.

Vistara on April 7 announced that it would cancel 10 per cent of its daily flights in April to provide a "much-needed" buffer in pilot rosters.

It typically operates about 350 flights daily.

Joshi, however, added that the total number of scheduled domestic flights for May 2024 was still higher than in May 2023, when Go First airline went bankrupt.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, Indian carriers are scheduled to operate 22,228 domestic flights per week in May this year, which would be an increase of 10.5 per cent Y-o-Y.

Ahead of peak summer season, a combination of operational factors (grounding of aircraft and reduction in flights) is resulting in supply-side constraints with the cascading impact of approximately 5-15 per cent in our 30-day advance fares for key destinations, said Indiver Rastogi, president and group head (Global Business Travel), Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel.

However, the fares have also reduced between 13-32 per cent on routes such as Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Leh, Delhi-Kolkata and Bengaluru-Kochi due to increased capacity and new airlines  operations, he added.

Two months back, IndiGo had said that about 75 planes were currently grounded due to Pratt and Whitney engine issues (new as well as old).

IndiGo is India's largest carrier with about 360 aircraft in its fleet.