An Air India flight take off during in rain at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Credit: DH Photo/B K Janardhan
Bengaluru: In the backdrop of a massive jump in airfares due to the Maha Kumbh, eight in ten airline passengers confirmed that they have paid excessively high fares once or more in the last 12 months, up to 1.5 times the standard fare or higher, as per a survey by LocalCircles on Sunday.
Fares to Prayagraj and Banaras are reported to have risen a whopping 300-600 per cent as tourists flock in large numbers. Consumers are reporting airfares for Delhi to Prayagraj between Rs 20,000-30,000, and for Delhi to Varanasi between Rs 20,000–40,000. This is against around Rs 5,000 for a one way trip to these cities under normal circumstances.
Many fliers have also been trying alternate airports as flights to Prayagraj sell out.
There have been over a hundred consumer complaints received since December last year on excessive air fares, the survey said. Currently, six out of ten airline passengers surveyed want the government to cap fares at two times the standard fare.
“People understand airlines must make a profit but there is a strong sentiment against evident profiteering that is happening with Mahakumbh travel and discontent that the regulator is failing to act,” stated the report.
However, this scenario is not unusual as airlines tend to hike fares multi-fold every time demand goes up during special events like festivals, pointed out the report.
While the centre has been talking of putting a cap on airfares to prevent price surges during peak times, there has been no concrete policy yet, the report added.
For example, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, on taking charge in June 2024, had assured the media that he would review the trend of ever-surging flight ticket prices. Before this, in February last year, a parliamentary panel had proposed that the government frame guidelines to control sudden surges in airfares.
The airlines, however, maintain that airfares are driven by supply and demand.
Still, the survey revealed a mixed sentiment as 22 per cent of air passengers were against the government putting a cap on air fare.
The survey received over 30,000 responses from airline passengers located in 304 districts of India. 41 per cent respondents were from tier-I cities, 29 per cent from tier-II, and 30 per cent respondents were from tier-III, IV, V, and rural districts.