Delhi-Jaipur airfare hits an all time low

JAIPUR: Airfares on the JaipurDelhi route have fallen to a new low with increasing competition between private airlines.

While the economy class airfare for the Delhi-Jaipur Indigo flight has come down to ₹1,200 for an advance bookings, the fare on a Jet Airways flight is ₹1,387.

Airfare usually tends to go up during the summer holiday season but a spurt in the number of flights this year has increased the competition on the route.

“Airfare depends on the availability of seats and low fares for advance bookings indicate higher availability of seats. The spot rates, however, remain unchanged on the Jaipur-Delhi route,” said Rajesh Kumar of Dream Holidays, a Jaipur-based travel agency. The minimum airfare on the Jaipur-Delhi route has now come down to ₹1,396, which is close ₹800 for a ticket for an AC Volvo bus for Jaipur to Delhi. The number of seats has increased over the past one year with the introduction of new flights and now there are flights almost every hour for the national capital.

At present, there are 14 daily flights from Jaipur to Delhi. Jet Airlines operates six daily flights to the national capital while Indigo operates four daily flights, Air India operates three flights and SpiceJet operates one flight. As per Airports Authority of India (AAI) data, the domestic aircrafts movement from Jaipur airport shot up by 36% in 2016-17 (April-February) as compared to last year.

Earlier this month, officials of the state civil aviation department and Union civil aviation department signed an agreement letter to improve regional air connectivity.

Under the agreement, flights will be launched between Jaipur and Agra via Delhi.