The number of domestic flights from Kolkata has gone down compared with pre-Covid times but the number of passengers has remained almost steady.
The result: unusually high fares even though the holiday season is supposed to be over. Increase in travel and rise in airlines’ operational costs are also contributing to the hike in fares.
A senior official at the Kolkata airport had gone to Delhi on official work earlier this week.
“I had booked a ticket on a late evening flight back to Kolkata, but my work was over before I had expected it to be. So, I was trying to book a ticket on an earlier flight, but the one-way fare from Delhi to Kolkata was Rs 21,000,” the official said.
“Pre-Covid, the one-way fare on the route would never exceed Rs 12,000 during off-season,” he said.
Kolkata businessman Naresh Parnani and his family will visit Hyderabad next week. “I tried booking flight tickets, but the one-way fare was Rs 9,000. The fare was too high and four of us will be travelling. So we booked train tickets instead,” said Parnani.
Airlines and tour operators said “the trend of high flight fares” that started with the post-Covid resumption of commercial flights has not reversed. Also, the number of flights to and from Kolkata has gone down compared with the pre-Covid times, though the number of passengers has been increasing since the pandemic-induced low.
Before Covid, 450 flights, including cargo and chartered flights, would arrive at and leave the Kolkata airport daily on an average, said an airport official.
“The number has now gone down to 390 aircraft daily,” said airport director C. Pattabhi.
Contrast this with the number of passengers.
“In 2019-20, Kolkata airport had handled 22 million passengers. In 2022-23, the number dropped to 17.72 million, but now the number is increasing again. We are expecting the number of passengers to be 21 million this year,” said Pattabhi.
Airport officials and travel agents said the stalling of GoFirst’s operations from May 3 impacted some of the sectors like Bagdogra, where the airline was operating.
“GoAir not operating and SpiceJet reducing flights has impacted airfares. Now, the demand for seats in the domestic sector is more but the number of seats has gone down,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman, east, Travel Agents Federation of India.
“If the trend continues, many budget tourists or those travelling in large groups would switch to trains.”
Airline officials and tour operators said that post-Covid, people are travelling on holidays throughout the year and that may have pushed up fares as well.
“The revenge travel that started a few months after the Covid scare blew over is still continuing. Many people who had not travelled for two years are travelling and that is also one of the reasons why off-season rates are high,” said Raktim Roy of Dolphin Travels. “Port Blair, which would barely have any visitors during the monsoon, has a high demand now.”
Tour operators said airfares in some sectors are so high that they account for half the cost of the total tour package.
“The off-season fares are abnormally high and it is not coming down. Flight fares are almost equal to the rest of the cost of a tour package to places like Rajasthan,” said Avijit Das, director, Hermes Voyages.
An official of an airline said operational costs have gone up, post-Covid.
“The aviation turbine fuel cost had shot up after the Ukraine war broke out. It has come down slightly in the last few months but still the prices are very high,” said the official.
In March, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was reduced by Rs 4,606 per kilolitre, or 4.09 per cent, to Rs 107,750.27 per kl in Delhi, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
It was slashed further. The price now is Rs 95,935.34 per kilolitre in Delhi.
