Following the nationwide cancelation of flights operated by market leader IndiGo, airfares on certain important routes reached record highs during the last three days.
Flight Cancellations Spike Fares
SpiceJet’s one-way ticket from Kolkata to Mumbai cost Rs 90,282, while Air India’s cost Rs 43,000. These prices are 15 and 7 times more than the usual rates for this route, respectively.
Akasa Air offered the cheapest direct trip from Goa to Mumbai on December 6 for Rs 21,600, which was more than four times the typical fare for this route. IndiGo has canceled 104 flights in Mumbai.
When IndiGo canceled all of its flights from Delhi on December 5, rival carriers’ ticket prices skyrocketed. The cost of Air India’s December 5 direct trip from Delhi to Mumbai was Rs 26,000.
Government Can Cap Fares
The government has the authority to cap airfares in a situation like this, according to experts, even though civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu stated on Friday that full restoration of services will be accomplished within the next three days following the decision to put the DGCA order on FDTL in abeyance.
In order to maintain affordability after the April 2025 assault on Pahalgam, the civil aviation ministry set a restriction on the cost of flights from Srinagar. Following government intervention, the tariffs on the Srinagar to Delhi route decreased from Rs 65,000 to Rs 14,000.
About 3,300 people had to be evacuated from the Srinagar airport due to the incident. As a result, the airlines were required to run more unplanned flights.
IndiGo Plans Full Recovery
On December 5 alone, IndiGo saw the cancellation of far over 1000 flights, or more than half of the daily total. On December 6, the airline anticipates less than 1000 cancellations.
Pieter Elbers, the airline’s CEO, said in a video message on Friday that the firm anticipates a complete resumption of flights between December 10 and 15.
On Friday, the aviation ministry issued a directive to lessen the difficulties experienced by travelers using IndiGo.
IndiGo has been requested to provide an instant full refund in the case of a cancellation. The airline would host passengers in hotels if they get stuck.
“The airline recognized that it failed to foresee the actual staff need under the new rules and that there were substantial planning and assessment gaps in executing Phase-II of FDTL CAR 2024 at a review meeting with the airline,” the DGCA stated in its order establishing a four-person committee to look into the IndiGo situation.
