Outbound air fares to soar 10%

New Delhi: Air travel to international destinations will cost more after March. While airfares dipped by around 10% last year in April, this year they will increase by 10%. Sample this: Jet Airways’ return fare (excluding taxes) to London will go up from Rs 24,000 to Rs 26,800. Air India’s fare to New York will increase from Rs 35,000 at present to Rs 45,000, while a flight to Mauritius will go up from Rs 19,700 to Rs 21,700.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), this fiscal, airfares for international destinations will go up by 5-8% on an average. While during peak air travel - that is April to June and October to December - they will increase by 10-12%.
April, May and June are peak months for outbound travel from India when airfares usually rise. However, last year owing to over capacity on most of the routes, fares dipped.
Britain’s low cost airline bmi pulled out its daily flight to Mumbai last year around October. At the same time Lufthansa also curtailed its one flight from Hyderabad.
Besides leisure travellers from India whose number increases during summer holidays, business travellers are also registering a strong growth.
17/03/07 Vishakha Talreja/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2007, General Aviation Mar 2007