Air travel favourable option during new year, no festival surge in fare

If you’re in Mumbai and contemplating a trip to Goa for New Year celebrations, you could fly stratight into a party at less than Rs 3,000. Travel sites listed Rs 2,664 as the lowest ticket price on Mumbai-Goa route for December 31 if the booking was being done just two days prior to the flight. Many other popular routes threw up surprisingly low tariffs just ahead of the travel dates.

The cheapest Bengaluru-Goa flight was at Rs 4,022 for December 30 and almost half of that at Rs 2,146 for December 31; Mumbai-Delhi at Rs 4,900 for December 30 and Rs 3,983 for December 31; Delhi-Jaipur for December 31 was going for as low as Rs 2,200 and Delhi-Jaisalmer in the range of Rs 5,500-Rs 5,600 for the last two days of the year.       
 

Spot airfares on many major domestic routes have seen a decline for December 29 to January 1 bookings this time compared to the corresponding period last year. This adjustment in airfares can be attributed to airlines' efforts to rectify the missteps observed prior to Diwali, according to aviation industry officials. 

In the lead up to the festival, airlines had maintained elevated fares to safeguard higher yields or the average revenue earned per passenger per kilometer. That strategy had resulted in lower load factors on multiple routes as the date approached, compelling airlines to subsequently reduce spot fares around Diwali in a bid to maximize occupancy and fill the flights.

According to airline officials, the load factors on their flights have remained consistently at or above 

90 per cent in the last few weeks. This is due to minimal fluctuations in airfares, instilling confidence in passengers to purchase flight tickets for new year travel.

Meanwhile, the recent fall in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices has also aided the drop in fares. On October 1, the price of ATF in Delhi was Rs 1,18,000 per kilolitre, which came down to Rs 1,06,000 per kilolitre by December 1. 

ATF constitutes approximately 40 per cent of the airline's overall expenses in India. ATF comprises about 40 per cent of an airline's total operating cost.

The Delhi-Mumbai route stands as India's busiest, witnessing the operation of over 730 flights weekly. As per information from the travel portal Ixigo, the average airfare on this route during the December 29-January 1 period has experienced a year-on-year decrease of 0.16 per cent for tickets booked one to three days prior to departure.
 

The Mumbai-Hyderabad route is also among the country’s busiest. The average airfare on this route for the December 29-January 1 timeframe has witnessed a year-on-year reduction of 31.76 per cent, amounting to Rs 3,457 for tickets booked a couple of days before departure. 
 

The average airfare for the Delhi-Goa route during the period from December 29 to January 1 this year was Rs 9,216, representing a mere 1.66 per cent increase compared to the average fare for the same period last year, according to Ixigo data.

While the central government does not control airfares in India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does have a tariff monitoring unit (TMU) that tracks fares on 60 routes in four categories: tickets purchased 31 days, 14 days and seven days before departure as well as  immediate fares.

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had recently told the media: "If we observe any major spike in fares, the TMU informs the airline and it self-regulates and brings the fare under control. Currently, the fares are under control, keeping in mind the seasonal fluctuation."