Russia-Ukraine war causes change in travel plans

Rising crude prices will most likely have a direct effect on airfares for both international and domestic air travel

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

The Russia-Ukraine war is putting travel plans on a hold. On March 7, oil prices went up briefly to touch USD 139 a barrel after the US said it was discussing a ban on Russian crude imports. Rising crude prices will most likely have a direct effect on airfares for both international and domestic air travel.

With rising airfares, 46 per cent of consumers who were planning to travel by air were likely to either take an alternate mode of travel or not travel at all while 14 per cent were likely to wait for airfares to drop to book their travels, according to a survey by Local Circles.

With crude oil prices unlikely to go down soon, airlines could see a drop of almost 40-50 per cent in their revenues during the March-May period. The Local Circles survey received 10,389 responses from consumers located in over 301 districts of the country.

Till recently, an ETTravelWorld report mentioned that a Mumbai-Delhi return ticket booked 15 days or more in advance was INR 5,500, but now it has nearly doubled to INR 10,500. Similarly, the cheapest 15-day advance purchase return fare on the Mumbai-Kochi flights that was priced around INR 4,300, costs over INR 15,000 now

India’s domestic aviation industry has been severely impacted by the pandemic in the last two years. Many families had to cancel their travel plans during the second and third waves. To top it all, from early December when the Omicron variant came in, the Government extended the suspension of international flights. Soon afterwards, a number of states and union territories also announced restrictions in mid-December to limit the spread of Covid, thereby making domestic travel even more challenging.

Many who had travel booked during the months of January-March 2022 cancelled or rescheduled their flights while many approached airlines and hotels for cancellations. The rapid rise in Omicron variant-led Covid cases also prompted some airlines to cut down capacity and as a result, some of them waived off ticket rescheduling fees and permitted them to rebook an alternate flight till March 31st, this year.

Till recently, an ETTravelWorld report mentioned that a Mumbai-Delhi return ticket booked 15 days or more in advance was INR 5,500, but now it has nearly doubled to INR 10,500. Similarly, the cheapest 15-day advance purchase return fare on the Mumbai-Kochi flights that was priced around INR 4,300, costs over INR 15,000 now.

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