Indian students have to bear the brunt of high air ticket prices

There is high demand and low supply and the return air fare for travel to India from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada are now available for almost three times the pre-Covid fares

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

Indian students studying abroad have been shelling out for high airfares for return to India during the winter holidays. There is high demand and low supply and the return air fare for travel to India from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada are now available for almost three times the pre-Covid fares.

According to reports, the worst hit are Indian students from the US west coast. A travel agent was quoted saying that this year, with Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok shut to Indian flyers, students from the US west coast have to transit via Europe and West Asia. The cheapest return fare for mid-December-early-January on the San Francisco-Delhi non-stop flight began at INR 2.3 lakh, offered by Air India. A cheaper option was a transit via Dubai, priced at INR 1.9 lakh, but one would have to be in transit for 25 hours each way.

Three weeks ago, tickets booked for mid-December travel and January return on the London-Dubai round trip route in economy class cost INR 80,000, while economy class fares on London- Mumbai began at INR 2 lakh

The cheapest return fare on San Francisco-Mumbai flights began at INR 2.2 lakh, with an Air India transit via Delhi. The cheapest available round trip fare on New York-Mumbai began at INR 1.6 lakh and involved a Dubai transit and a 23-hour journey each way. The cheapest fares on nonstop return flights from New York to Delhi began at INR 1.7 lakh. Similarly, for a Boston-Mumbai round trip fares began at INR 1.7 lakh while Chicago-Mumbai via Dubai was the cheapest option with fares at INR 1.94 lakh.

UK was not cheap too. The return on London-Mumbai non-stop began at INR 1.4 lakh on Air India, the cheaper fare for INR 1.1 lakh involved a Dubai transit. Delhi has better non-stop connectivity, with Toronto-Delhi non-stop return priced at INR 2 lakh and Chicago-Delhi non-stop return at INR 1.8 lakh.

Three weeks ago, tickets booked for mid-December travel and January return on the London-Dubai round trip route in economy class cost INR 80,000, while economy class fares on London- Mumbai began at INR 2 lakh.

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com