A spike in the number of expat Indians travelling to their hometowns, besides the number of tourists from the Gulf region to the sub-continent during the holiday season is seen as the major reason for the surge in airfares. In addition, the current airline seat capacities in the Gulf-India sector has also added to the spike in fares
UAE as well as Indian airlines are all cashing in on the Eid holidays. Fares for travel from the Middle East to India have hit a high: a whopping 73 percent jump over last year’s holiday season, industry data revealed.
A spike in the number of expat Indians travelling to their hometowns, besides the number of tourists from the Gulf region to the sub-continent during the holiday season is seen as the major reason for the surge in airfares. In addition, the current airline seat capacities in the Gulf-India sector has also added to the spike in fares.
However, airfares for travel from India to the Gulf region posted onlya marginal increase of three percent. “The surge in airfares come in the wake of a 50 percent jump in bookings for April-May period compared to last year,” Atish Thapa, Head of business development at Cleartrip, the leading online travel agency (OTA) in GCC and India, told Arabian Business.
Air India saw its market share taking a major hit during the current Eid holidays, with a 13percent decrease. According to industry sources, this could be due to Air India’s planned reduction in the number of flights to Tier-IIcities in India, with its low cost sister airline Air India Express increasing its flights to these cities, under a route restructuring programme initiated by the Tata Group as part of its airline merger proposal
Thapa said Indian low cost airlines are among the major beneficiaries of the spike in travel demand and surge in airfares, with bookings data on its platform showing IndiGo and Air India Express gaining 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively. The UAE low cost carrier Air Arabia and full service airline Emirates are also said to be major beneficiaries of the demand hike, though data about their gain in the current season was not available. Industry insiders said Emirates would have gained big time in terms of revenues in the current holiday season as its tickets cost almost two times more compared to the low-cost airlines.
Air India saw its market share taking a major hit during the current Eid holidays, with a 13percent decrease. According to industry sources, this could be due to Air India’s planned reduction in the number of flights to Tier-IIcities in India, with its low cost sister airline Air India Express increasing its flights to these cities, under a route restructuring programme initiated by the Tata Group as part of its airline merger proposal.
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