Airfares soar sky-high for travel abroad

High demand, low capacity, rise in ATF primary drivers for 50% hike

Airfares to popular destinations like London and New York have surged 45-50 per cent over the pre-pandemic period, driven by high demand, low capacity, and increase in jet fuel price.

Seats are difficult to get on flights to Europe and the US and those available are in the higher slabs. United and Air Canada’s move to suspend flights (San Francisco-delhi, Vancouver-delhi, Newarkmumbai) due to restrictions on the use of Russian airspace has also curtailed the availability of seats on the India-north America market.

“International airfares have risen as high as 45-50 per cent on some popular routes this year, compared to prepandemic times due to rising fuel prices. The lowest oneway fares for routes like Mumbai-new York in May will cost travellers anywhere between ~48,000 and ~67,000. Despite rising airfares, interest in international travel this summer is strong due to pentup demand. Among destinations, search queries for the United Arab Emirates, the US, the UK, and Canada are seeing week-on-week growth,” said Aloke Bajpai, group chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder, ixigo.

Scheduled international passenger flights commenced on March 27 this year after a gap of two years. This has widened travel options as airlines are now allowed to sell tickets to onward destinations.

On Tuesday, there were 704 international flights to/from India — around 41 per cent lower than winter 2019.

Delhi, the country’s busiest airport, is currently seeing around 85-90 international departures daily, compared with around 135-140 departures prior to the pandemic.

In terms of connectivity from Delhi, Australia and North America have seen an increase in the number of flights, compared with 2020, but in the case of Europe, recovery of capacity is only around 50 per cent.

“The supply-demand imbalance will not get restored overnight. Airlines will look at aircraft and crew availability before increasing their flights. Airlines are also looking to improve yields and cut losses as fuel prices remain high,” said Isha Goyal, CEO, STIC Travel Group.

“With crude oil prices on the boil and geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, airfares for some medium- to long-haul routes are up 15-60 per cent, compared with April 2019,” said Pushan Sharma, director, CRISIL Research.