Airfare on metro routes down 28%, up on non-metro routes

New Delhi: Those planning to travel between metro cities this year-end are in for a treat. According to data from ticket booking portals, airline ticket prices between metropolitan cities have crashed by almost a third this month compared to December 2023.

In parallel, airfares between metros and tourist or religious destinations have shot up accompanied by shooting demand in light of the upcoming year-end holidays and festivities.

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Travel portal EaseMyTrip reported a 9-28% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in airfares on key metro-to-metro routes. The highest fall of 28% was between Chennai and Kolkata. Kolkata-Bengaluru was a close second, with fares having dropped 27%. The next three—Delhi to Chennai, Hyderabad to Delhi, and Delhi to Ahmedabad—have seen airfares fall 21%, 21% and 20% y-o-y, respectively.

Not at the best

Experts said demand on metro routes is anyway not the best at the end of the year, but demand this year is lower even compared to last year.

“The airfares between metro-to-metro routes have dropped significantly because the fares have been obnoxiously high since the festive season," said Jyoti Singh Mayal, immediate past president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and chairperson of Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC). “Pre bookings are not happening like before. This doesn't mean people are not travelling; hotels are doing much better than airlines."

She added that people have now started to drive down to nearby destinations. “The algorithms on airlines’ websites ensure that ticket prices remain high even if you book two to three months in advance."

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Nishant Pitti, CEO and co-founder of EaseMyTrip, said the drop in airfare will bring relief to passengers. “The month of December reveals a complex airfare landscape, characterized by significant pricing variations across domestic routes," Pitti told Mint. “Recent trends in domestic airfare indicate significant price reductions across key metro-to-metro routes, offering travellers substantial price benefits."

EaseMyTrip data also highlighted a 17% drop in airfare between Delhi and Kolkata, 16% between Bengaluru and Kolkata, and a 12% drop between Delhi and Mumbai, which is the busiest domestic route. Airfare between Delhi and Hyderabad has dropped 15% and a 9% drop is observed between flights from Delhi to Bengaluru and vice-versa.

Rise in airfare

At the same time, there has been a rise in airfares between metros and smaller leisure destinations in the wake of the upcoming year-end festive season.

Travel portal ixigo reported 3-18% increase in airfares between metro cities and leisure destinations or other smaller cities. For departures between 24 December and 1 January 2025, ticket prices between New Delhi and Srinagar are up 18%, Mumbai and Dehradun up 13%, and Bengaluru and Jaipur, up 11%. Airfares from New Delhi to Pune and Patna are up 9% and from Pune to New Delhi, up 3%. However, Delhi to Goa flights have seen a marginal 2% increase in airfare in this period.

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The rise in airfares has come in the backdrop of a massive surge in flight bookings to tourist and religious destinations between 20 December 2024 and 2 January 2025. According to ixigo data, flight bookings to Jaipur have risen 146%, and Udaipur 126%. Bookings to Srinagar, Goa, Jaipur, and Leh have risen 66%, 52%, 51% and 30%, respectively.

Bookings on a surge

Flight bookings to religious cities have also surged—led by Varanasi with an eye-popping 669% rise in bookings, followed by Tirupati (67%), Amritsar (58%), and Shirdi (22%).

To be sure, Indian airlines carried a record number of 152 million passengers in 2023, as per data from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). In 2024, they have carried 132 million passengers between January and October.

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Meanwhile, Indian carriers are expected to add more than 150 aircraft in their fleet in 2024, according to aviation consultancy and research firm CAPA India. IndiGo has placed an order of 30 Airbus A350-900 wide-body aircraft this year, a first order of its kind for the airline. Akasa placed an order of 150 Boeing MAX 10 aircraft in January. Earlier this month, Air India placed an order of 100 more Airbus aircraft. Indian airlines have over 1,000 aircraft on order.

As per rating agency Icra, domestic air traffic is expected to grow 7-10% to reach 164–170 million passengers by the end of FY25. The agency also expects the industry to report net losses of ₹2,000-3,000 crore in FY2025 and FY2026, which would be lower than previous years.