The fares were considered for tickets booked 30 days in advance. Goa remains one of India's most popular destinations for Christmas and New Year celebrations
Despite soaring passenger numbers, Indian airlines can't raise fares due to fierce competition, rising costs, and price sensitivity, leaving them struggling to stay profitable
The airfare study conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), which represents 617 airports in this region, was done in partnership with Flare Aviation Consulting
Travel associations observed that demand for flights on metro routes has eased this year compared to the previous surge, which largely met the pent-up post-pandemic travel appetite
Airport charges are an important element of the commercial aviation ecosystem for infrastructure development and increase in airfares is not linked to a rise in the charges, according to the Airports Council International (ACI). Against the backdrop of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) flagging concerns over a steep rise in airport charges, ACI also said that the charges will remain a critical source of revenue for airports. "Airport charges are an important element of the commercial aviation ecosystem for infrastructure development. Failing to address the capital expenditure requirements to accommodate the projected growth could have serious socio-economic consequences," Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia Pacific & Middle East, said. In a statement to PTI, he noted that airports are highly infrastructure-intensive businesses, with their cost structures dominated by significant fixed costs for the operation and upkeep of essential infrastructure such
Competition present on only 31% of domestic routes in April 2024, data show
Goa has witnessed a 166 per cent spike in bookings
Limited capacity growth, high demand pushing up ticket prices
Passengers around the world are winning some respite from the fare madness that followed the pandemic - and further price declines are coming
We have lots of room for airfares to grow while still being extremely affordable for the Indian consumer, he noted
Delhi's Mungeshpur area shattered records on Wednesday, logging a scorching 52.3 degrees Celsius - the highest temperature ever recorded in the city
Domestic airfares are sailing northwards, surging up to 40 per cent in key routes on higher traffic and capacity constraints in the last six quarters. Still, ticket prices are among the lowest in the world, according to experts. India is one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets and on average, 4.5 lakh passengers travel on domestic flights daily. While only a small percentage of the country's population travels by air, capacity constraints are a key challenge as many aircraft are grounded mainly due to supply chain issues. Aviation consultancy firm CAPA India said that average fares on the top 20 domestic routes had not moved significantly in nominal terms for the last two decades, until the last six quarters during which they have been up by close to 40 per cent. The routes include Mumbai-Delhi, Bengaluru-Delhi, Bengaluru-Mumbai and Delhi-Hyderabad. The trend has been driven by serious capacity shortages with an average of 150 aircraft on the ground due to supply
High airfares remain a challenge that impacts India's leisure and business travellers, Thomas Cook India's Executive Chairman Madhavan Menon said. In an interview with PTI, he shared that airline capacity too continues to be a challenge despite an increase in scheduled flights. "We hope to see the demand-supply constraints ease a bit with new aircraft being introduced into the network, but this will be over the long term," Menon said. On the company's expansion plans, he informed that Thomas Cook India is working on expanding and strengthening its physical network with a combination of owned and franchise outlets and accelerating its digital footprint in the country. "With a focus on viable source markets, we continue our retail expansion with a combination of owned and franchise outlets, across metros/mini-metros and regional India. "Additionally, for our foreign exchange business, we have leveraged existing franchise outlets to set up foreign exchange counters within the same ..
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
While Vistara has not specified the duration of the capacity cut, it will likely remain in effect until at least the end of April, keeping fares high on affected routes during this period
IndiGo, India's largest carrier, has been the most severely affected by the congestion-induced cancellations
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday announced the withdrawal of fuel charge that was collected from passengers, a move that will reduce airfares by up to Rs 1,000 on certain long routes. In the wake of a spike in jet fuel prices, the airline started levying the fuel charge on each domestic and international ticket from October 6, 2023. The quantum of the fuel charge varied from Rs 300 to up to Rs 1,000 depending on the distance. The airline, which is expanding its operations, said the fuel charge has been withdrawn with effect from January 4, due to the recent reduction in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices. "As ATF prices are dynamic, we will continue to adjust our fares and components thereof, to respond to any change in prices or market conditions," IndiGo said in a statement. Fuel cost accounts for a significant chunk of a carrier's operational costs. Last year, IndiGo was also the first Indian carrier to announce that they would levy fuel charge to offset the spi
This month, the priority is to maintain fares at a reasonable level to ensure consistently high load factors
Fare 'adjustment' comes as airlines seek to rectify missteps taken before Diwali
The Civil Aviation Ministry has a tariff monitoring unit (TMU) that monitors airfares between 30 days to one day ahead of a scheduled flight