Airfares fly too high to fire up the festive spirit in Dussehra and Diwali this year

Air travel for Dussehra and Diwali holidays will cost more this year.

It's going to be a dampened Dussehra or a dimming Diwali for travellers this year with airfares zooming up to Rs 20,000-30,000 on some routes. Some airlines have lined up discount offers for the festive season, yet that's too little to rush for.

Vistara, for example, under its Freedom Sale offered on August 15 one-way domestic fares starting from Rs 1,578 for economy, Rs 2,678 for premium economy, and Rs 9,978 for business class for travel till October 31, 2024, while Air India Express launched its Flash Sale with fares starting from Rs 1,037 and zero convenience fee for bookings made till August 25 for travel from August 26 to October 24 on domestic sectors.

This year, Dussehra falls on October 12 and Diwali will be celebrated between October 31 and November 2. "As the Dussehra and Diwali holidays approach, travellers are eagerly searching for deals on airfare. However, there doesn't seem to be a clear pattern of widespread discount spree across all airlines," Rikant Pittie, co-founder of EaseMyTrip, said.

Sky-high airfares

In fact, travel platforms see airfares shooting up significantly for the festive period. Online travel platform Ixigo has observed a 30-35 percent on-year increase in advance flight bookings for October and November for Diwali and Dussehra. Rajnish Kumar, group co-CEO of Ixigo, noted that the average airfare to popular leisure destinations like Goa and Jaipur have risen by 15-20 percent during the festive season.

During the Diwali week of 2024, airfares have experienced a noticeable increase compared to the same period in 2023, even for those booking as early as three months in advance, Pittie said.

"On popular domestic routes, the cost of one-way tickets has significantly risen. For example, the fare for routes like Mumbai to Patna has surged past Rs 20,000, while Bengaluru to Varanasi is approaching Rs 24,000, and Bengaluru to Patna is nearing Rs 30,000. Other key routes, including Mumbai to Lucknow and Delhi to Guwahati, are also seeing elevated prices, with fares in the upper Rs 14,000 to Rs 18,000 range," he pointed out.

On routes like Mumbai-Hyderabad where the one-way fare is Rs 5,000, reflects a nearly 21 percent surge over the last year, Pittie said. "The Delhi-Chennai route has experienced a roughly 15 percent hike, with fares approaching Rs 7,600. This trend is driven by strong demand, limited capacity growth, and a shift in how airlines price tickets, particularly during peak travel periods like Diwali," he added.

Average hike in airfares during Dussehra 2024.

Government steps in

To combat simmering airfares on certain routes for the upcoming festive season, the government has asked airlines to consider increasing the frequency of flights on domestic routes where prices have risen more than 20 percent over the last year.

"We have spoken to airlines to deploy higher capacity on domestic routes around Diwali to help moderate airfares and are in constant discussion with airlines on routes where air ticket prices are exorbitantly high," a senior government official said.

He added that a similar situation of a spike in air ticket prices was seen in Leh in July which has been addressed by airlines, especially as weather conditions improved. "A number of factors, not just capacity constraints, play a role when it comes to ticket prices. Look at the situation in Leh in July due to the weather conditions, now ticket prices have corrected on the route," the official said.

He added that while the government doesn't have any plans to regulate airfares, there should not be a huge gap between the tickets sold in the lower and upper fare buckets by the airlines.

Increasing inventory

Pittie said that despite early bookings, prices are higher, challenging the expectation that booking in advance leads to cheaper fares. "This price surge, coupled with fewer flight services than in the previous years, underscores the increasingly dynamic and high-stakes nature of airfare pricing during the festive season."

Some relief is expected with airlines increasing inventory. As airlines take delivery of more planes in the next few months prices are likely to see some correction, said another ministry official. "IndiGo, Air India, and Air India Express are scheduled to take deliveries of 10 more planes before November which will be deployed on domestic routes and help address capacity constraints," the second official said.

Back in February, a Parliamentary panel proposed route-specific capping of airfares and setting up a separate entity to exercise control. Based on responses received by the civil aviation ministry, the panel said that self-regulation of ticket prices by aviation companies has not been effective.

Airfares are now neither established nor regulated by the government.

Average hike in airfares during Diwali 2024.

Costly at home, cheap abroad

While domestic travel gets costlier, international trips are likely to cost less this festive season. "Airfares to destinations like Singapore, Bangkok and Male from key metros have decreased over the last year, making international travel an attractive option this Diwali," said Ixigo's Kumar.

There has been a dip on some domestic routes, too. "Airfares to Bagdogra, Andamans, Jaipur-Udaipur, Goa have seen a dip. We have seen a 5-8 percent increase in airfares from key metros to destinations like Kashmir, Leh-Ladakh, Kochi, Madurai/Coimbatore (Ooty), Mysuru/Mangaluru (Coorg) when booked 60-90 days prior departure. The demand-supply effect is understandably pushing fares north closer to departure and for last-minute bookers," said Indiver Rastogi, president and group head of global business travel at Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC Travel.

Demand drivers

Rastogi said that key demand drivers for this festive season's travel bookings include multi-generational families due to school breaks, couples and millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012).

"India’s migrant working professionals are also travelling back home for the upcoming festivals to celebrate with family. Our data reflects an increasing number of searches from metros to India’s tier 2-3 cities/towns," Rastogi added.

There has been a 20 percent increase in bookings for October to December compared to last year, said Gaurav Patwari, vice-president for Air Category at Cleartrip.

"During the Diwali and Dussehra holidays in 2024, travel bookings have soared across both domestic and international sectors. Domestic tourism has seen an overall 20 percent increase in forward bookings compared to last year, with top destinations like Goa, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala leading the way apart from metros," said Pittie.