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Airfares set to rise further after soaring over 100%
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SME Times News Bureau | 14 Mar, 2019
Air passengers might continue to face the grim prospect of high airfares
and fewer flight choices as several airlines have cancelled operations
for a number of reasons, including the grounding of the Boeing 737-MAX
aircraft.
Industry insiders on Thursday pointed out that with no
short-term relief in sight, some sectors will continue to see a rise of
more than 100 per cent in last minute bookings.
"With no short
term relief in sight. Passengers can expect the trend of high airfares
to last about a month's time. Passengers should book their tickets in
advance," ixigo Co-founder and CEO Aloke Bajpai told IANS.
"With
an unprecedented number of planes now grounded due to various factors,
reduction in seat capacity has led to an increase in fares overnight.
Last minute airfares on Wednesday increased to more than 100 per cent on
some key routes like Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata and
Mumbai-Bengaluru as compared to same time last year."
As per ixigo, spot fares for Mumbai-Chennai touched Rs 26,073, as opposed to Rs 5,369 the same time last year.
"High
airfare patterns are expected to continue in the short-term with Holi
and summer school holidays round the corner, resulting in increased
demand," Bajpai said.
According to Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C)
Yatra.com, civil aviation regulator DGCA's decision to ground the Boeing
737-MAX aircraft has resulted in a fairly significant impact on air
fares for immediate travel on certain key routes.
"While overall
fares were already on the rise by 15-20 per cent, we have noticed a
variable pattern in spot fares with spike in fares on routes such as
Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Kolkata.
"With current
increase in load factors, this reduction in capacity, we expect the
airfares to rise further in the short to medium term," Dhall said.
Operations
of airlines like SpiceJet and Jet Airways have been hit due to the
government's decision on Wednesday to join a global grounding of 737-MAX
aircrafts following a crash in Ethiopia.
In India, SpiceJet and
Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft -- Spice (12) and Jet
(5). A part of Jet's fleet has already been grounded due to other
reasons.
The grounding led SpiceJet to cancel 14 flights on Wednesday. This number is expected to touch 32 on Thursday.
Sources
in SpiceJet said that the airline has rejigged its network to bring
down cancellation by optimum usage of its existing fleet of 64 planes,
route rationalisation and clubbing of flights.
Apart from
SpiceJet, financially challenged Jet Airways has already grounded four
more aircraft over non-repayment of dues to lessors, taking the total to
32.
The company in BSE filings has said that 19 aircraft were
grounded in February over non-repayment of dues to lessors, while 13
others were grounded this month, taking the total to 32. The Jet Airways
Group operates a fleet of 123 aircraft.
However, around 50 of
the full service carrier's planes are said to be non-operational due to a
host of reasons, including lack of spare parts.
Budget carrier IndiGo is going through massive turbulence on account of pilot shortage, leading to a truncated flight schedule.
The
airline said earlier that 30 of its flights that have been affected
represent only 2 per cent of its network. It has decided to curtail its
schedule till March 31, by about 30 flights a day.
"As a
proactive measure, IndiGo has decided to continue its curtailment until
the end of March. This measure has already been implemented and
passengers informed," the airline said in a statement.
"These
medium term cancellations have been made to minimise the impact on
passengers as alternative travel options have been offered well in
advance. The operations will be normalised by the start of the summer
schedule."
For sometime now, Air India has grounded 17 aircraft
due to technical reasons. The national passenger carrier has also
cancelled several international flights on account of low passenger
yields on the sectors which include Delhi-Madrid.
The airline said that 6 international flights from Delhi to places like Birmingham have been cancelled.
On
Wednesday, the government had advised domestic airlines not to go in
for predatory air fare pricing as several 737-MAX aircraft were grounded
due to safety reasons.
Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh
Kharola said: "We have advised the airlines... that they should not use
it (grounding) as a reason to jack up their fares."
"They have
promised they will go as per normal routine. DGCA has just said that it
will be monitoring all the sectors very closely."
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