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While 20 members of Parliament have said airlines are indulging in cartelisation and complained of excessive fares charged by them during holiday season, travel agents and online portals say fares are 15 to 20 per cent lower this summer compared to a year ago.
“Overall, fares are 15 per cent lower this year. The lower fares partly reflect lower fuel prices, but also partially additional capacity on certain routes and increased competition as a result,” said Samyukth Sridharan, president and chief operating officer, Cleartrip.
The reasons for airfares being lower in last two months compared to the same period in 2014 are two. One, airlines have more inventory to sell. Two, there were fewer promotion sales in January-February as compared to last year, resulting in more seats available for sale in April-May, thus keeping prices softer, a sector expert said.
“Airfares are down across all routes, including key metro routes such as Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Bengaluru-Mumbai, and Bengaluru-Delhi-Bengaluru. This has resulted in the domestic air market registering a growth in the number of passengers in the last one year after a couple of years of stagnation,” said Sharat Dhall, president, Yatra.com. According to Dhall, fares are about 20 per cent lower year-on-year.
“Today airlines are not just looking at the booking curve, but moving to demand-based pricing. For instance, on the Mumbai- Delhi route, travellers will still get a reasonable fare, if booked within two days, because of higher number of flights. On the other side, if we look at the less operational flight routes such as Mumbai-Jamnagar, which have less than three flights for prime time, an advance booking will still see a high fare, said Indiver Rastogi, chief operating officer and head, corporate travel, Thomas Cook India
Led by Bharatiya Janata Party Parliament member Kirit Somaiya, the 20 members on Thursday filed representations to civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. The members have flagged up concerns about fares being raised in a "monopolistic manner" during summer, Diwali and Christmas vacations, and about arbitrary and high cancellation charges. Besides, they have cited delays and cancellation of flights.
Somaiya has sought action by the central government to stop "arbitrary fare rises by airlines”. As there is no proper forum or redressal system, the airlines are indulging in cartelisation and exploiting air travellers, the lawmakers said in the representation.
