Airfares to and from Mumbai set to soar
“With the Mumbai airport being shut for six hours thrice a week because of runaway repair work, there has been a lot of cancellation and rescheduling of flights leading to a reduction in capacity by approximately 15-20% on these days,” said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer at online travel portal Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd.
Fares, especially between Mumbai and Delhi, and other trunk routes from the city, have already risen significantly ahead of the impending closure. Dhall said fares between Mumbai and Delhi are more than 30% higher during the days when the runways would be closed compared with other days.
“We would advise travellers to plan their travel well in advance to avoid paying these extremely high fares,” he said.
“We have already informed the airlines months in advance about the situation and have encouraged them to bring in wide body aircraft so that they have enough capacity,” said a CSIA spokesperson.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport will also be on partial shutdown towards the latter part of February because of temporary closure of air space in the city for commercial flights in view of the biennial Aero India show that will take place between February 14-24. The airport, which sees about 30 arrivals and departures every hour, will also suspend its operations for a few hours during rehearsals and on show days.