Relief for domestic fliers as airline prices fall by up to 50% after govt advisory: A lowdown

The maximum decline in the week-ahead fares among the 10 routes was 56 percent in Delhi-Leh and Delhi-Ahmedabad sectors.

By: Express Web Desk
New Delhi | June 14, 2023 02:15 PM IST

2 min read

Airlines prices have fallen significantly this week on 9 most-affected domestic routes. (File photo for representation)

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Some relief for domestic fliers: air fares have come down significantly this week – by over 50 percent on some routes – since the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) issued an order to airlines to monitor and rationalise their inflating prices.

The big point: Airline tariffs have finally let up a little after fares for domestic travel had skyrocketed in the past few months. The relief comes after Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia met representatives of airlines on June 5, advising them to “self-monitor” prices on certain routes, particularly the ones that have been affected the most by suspension of operations by Wadia group airline Go First from May 3.

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The details: According to data compiled by MoCA from booking portals 10 of the most-affected sectors by fare surges, average day-ahead fares available for bookings on June 13 were lower than June 5 in the case of nine routes – Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Pune, Pune-Delhi, Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Delhi, Delhi-Leh, and Leh-Delhi.

The only sector for which the average flight price has gone up is Mumbai-Delhi. Similar trends are visible in comparison of the week-ahead and month-ahead fares between June 13 and June 5, as per MoCA’s data.

Zoom in: The maximum decline in the week-ahead fares among the 10 routes was 56 percent in Delhi-Leh and Delhi-Ahmedabad sectors. The lowest – 10 percent – was in Ahmedabad-Delhi sector. For the Mumbai-Delhi route, the average week-ahead airfares surged by 13 percent.

The backdrop: Scindia had attributed the high airfares in the recent weeks to the “twin demand increase” that the aviation sector is witnessing in the ongoing peak summer travel season.

“You’ve had a demand increase because of high season and a capacity squeeze (due to suspension of Go First’s flights). That of course has resulted in a tremendous amount of demand coming to the fore, and even seat load factors going to unexperienced highs,” he had noted, adding that Indian carriers used to see seat load factors of 80-84 percent in high season, but are now operating at seat load factors of around 95 percent.