Flyers to feel pinch as fares increased ahead of Diwali

However, frequent travellers point out that airfares have already soared by around 50 per cent in the past six months.

With around a month left for Diwali, working professionals and businessmen have started booking tickets to their hometowns in an attempt to limit the impact on their pockets. However, revised fares in some cases are already proving to be jaw-dropping.

Several Tricity residents said it no longer made sense to fly to Delhi and that it might not be long before offices advised employees to travel by train or car for the short-distance journey.

Akhil Raina, an HR executive with a software firm in Bengaluru, said the cheapest one-way ticket from Bengaluru to Chandigarh on November 5 was costing Rs 17,112.

“I am still undecided whether to come home for Diwali or not. My friends are joking that if I spend so much on an air ticket, there will be nothing left to spend here on Diwali,” he said.

Raina said he had travelled on the Bengaluru-Chandigarh flight as recently as September 17, when the ticket cost just Rs 9,329.

Travel agents said passengers travelling from Kolkata, Chennai and other cities with limited daily flights would have to pay much more than those travelling on busy routes.

Tricity residents planning to return home around November 5 will have to shell out Rs 11,640 for a Chennai-Chandigarh flight, compared to Rs 9,173 at other times in October.

Rohit Thakur of Sai Tour and Travels, Phase XI, Mohali, said, “Given the geopolitical tensions and the domestic festival season, it is very unlikely that airfares will come down anytime soon. This is a reality flyers will have to deal with now.”

“A few airlines give passengers the option of freezing ticket prices for a small fee before they increase further. Passengers can keep checking for price drops. They may be unlikely, but you never know when you might get lucky,” said Vikas Saini of Evergreen Tours and Travel, Sector 17, Chandigarh.