Challenges for travellers

The knock-on effect of this is that people who are looking to fly to these destinations might have to pay more money for direct flight tickets, as other airlines responded to the decrease in competition by inflating their own fares. People might also have to face long transit times as they wait for connecting flights to take them to their destinations.

A senior official of the airline industry, however, claimed that the fares have not been hiked because of fewer flights. “People are only getting higher class economy fares, which sometimes reach 500 per cent,” travel agents said.

For example, passengers flying to New Delhi might have to pay as much as OMR227 for a oneway ticket, and face flying and transit times of up to 20 hours on one airline. Flights to Mumbai on the same airline are priced at OMR217, with the total journey taking upwards of 17 hours. In addition, flights to Thiruvananthapuram are being sold for OMR200, and tickets to Chennai will set passengers back by some OMR140. The cost of a regular ticket to Kolkata was OMR222.

In contrast, flying to Mumbai on Indigo Airlines would be possible for as low as OMR67, while Jet Airways flights to the same destination cost just OMR38. A travel agent in Oman said fares from Muscat to Mumbai (one way) began at OMR28 but soared to beyond OMR150 during the peak season. “Everything depends on demand and supply,” he added.

“The decision to terminate the operations to Oman is a big decision made under surging fuel prices and the weaker rupee that is affecting India’s leading carrier Jet Airways,” said Sudeep Joseph, Head of Travel for Travel Point.

“Jet Airways’ withdrawal will cut competition and thus reduce the scope for travellers to enjoy competitive ticket fares. Indian families will face challenges while booking their summer vacation tickets during the months of February, March and April. This will affect South India-bound traffic to Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram.”

“However, we don’t anticipate a drop in India-bound passengers,” he added. “We will work closely with impacted guests to notify them of the changes to their itineraries and re-accommodate them on alternative flights.”