According to an analysis, airfares are trending upwards throughout the holiday season, with the average one-way ticket price on major domestic routes increasing by 10-15% for Diwali and by 20 - 25% for some flights to Kerala towns for Onam.
Furthermore, as per a study conducted by the travel website ixigo for PTI, the average one-way economy class cost for non-stop flights on the Delhi-Chennai route between October 30 and November 5 is 25% more expensive, at Rs 7,618. This is in contrast to the price from November 10–16 of the previous year. This is in contrast to the price from November 10–16 of the previous year.
The ticket price for the Mumbai-Hyderabad route is 21% more during the comparable time, at Rs 5,162, while for the Delhi-Goa and Delhi-Ahmedabad routes, it is 19% more, at Rs 5,999 and Rs 4,930, respectively.
The investigation indicates that there are fee increases on certain other lines ranging from 1 to 16 percent. Travel demand for Diwali is increasing, according to ixigo Group Co-CEO Rajnish Kumar, with airfares rising over the previous year.
"Popular routes like Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Delhi-Hyderabad are seeing average one-way fares ranging between Rs 4,000-5,000, marking a 10-15 per cent Y-o-Y increase as the festival approaches," he stated.
However, over the specified comparative period, prices have also decreased on a number of routes by 1 to 27%. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight ticket price has decreased by 27% to Rs 2,508, while the Mumbai-Udaipur flight ticket price has decreased by 25% to Rs 4,890.
According to the analysis, the ticket for the Bengaluru-Hyderabad travel has decreased by 23% to Rs 3,383, while for the Mumbai-Jammu route, it has decreased by 21% to Rs 7,826. Furthermore, an examination of airfare patterns on certain routes for the next Kerala festival revealed that increases in price had occurred on several routes ranging from 1% to 25%. In parallel, ticket costs have decreased on certain routes by around 6–35 percent.
The data represent the average one-way ticket for non-stop flights departing between September 6 and 15, this year, and August 20–29, 2023, the Onam holiday period.
For the specified comparative period, a 30% increase in ticket, to Rs 4,102, has been documented for the Hyderabad-Thiruvananthapuram trip. The Mumbai-Calicut airfare has also been increased to Rs 4,448.
The second week of September saw a tripling of flight reservations and searches for travel to Kerala, indicating an increase in demand for travel during the Onam festivities this year. According to Rajnish Kumar, the average cost of flying to important towns like Cochin, Calicut, and Thiruvananthapuram has increased by 20–25 percent annually.
Concerns about expensive travel have persisted, particularly during the busiest and festival seasons.
In light of this, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the Lok Sabha earlier this month that the ministry intended to implement an online grievance resolution system to guarantee that travelers weren't taken advantage of by needless ticket price increases.
Following the abolition of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the government no longer establishes or regulates airfares. The ministry informed the Rajya Sabha last month that airlines have been counseled to self-regulate and have been made aware of the need to be moderate in their ticket prices.
