Airlines hike spot fares despite low occupancies

MUMBAI: Spot airfares across India continue to rise, even though airlines are looking at considerably low flight occupancies across sectors. Air tickets booked a day in advance on return flights to Kolkata per passenger on Thursday night soared to above Rs 40,000 on travel portals such as Cleartrip and MakeMyTrip.

The same fares fell to about Rs 25,000 on Friday. Right now, a return ticket on November 2 for Mumbai-Delhi is Rs 20,420, while a Delhi-Bangalore ticket costs Rs 20,326. Airlines started hiking fares by close to 25% from the second week of September , after cutting them to record lows in July and August.

As a result of the low fares, domestic traffic rose year-on-year by 18% in August and 16% in September , according to IATA.

Carriers continue to hike fares, even though they are getting dismal load factors. “Most airlines are doing just about 75% loads on their flights, much lower than the usual festive season demand,” said an executive at a local carrier.