Airlines to cash in on festive rush, hike fares during Diwali

Mumbai: There could be more bad news for air travelers, albeit selectively. Airlines are learnt to be considering a 5% fare hike during Durga Puja and Diwali in some routes where traffic increases considerably in the festive season.
It is learnt that both full fare and budget carriers have drawn up plans to jack up fares marginally in the Delhi-Kolkata route during Durga Puja.
Mumbai and a few other cities connecting Delhi are likely to see similar fare hikes during Diwali and Bhaiduj. Executives of Jet Airways and SpiceJet have confirmed the move, which is aimed at encashing the spurt in load-factors to as high as 80-90% during this time.
Jet Airways chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan said: “The 5% hike is on the top of the company’s earlier plan to increase prices.” He said the price rise would not be withdrawn after the festive season.
SpiceJet chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan told ET: “There would be rise in fares in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi connecting flights during Durga Puja and Diwali. We will be selling our last 10-15 seats at a marginal higher rate as load factor is likely to increase during those days.”
“Travellers have to pay more if they don’t book much in advance as the company is not considering any fare reduction in the festive period,” SpiceJet CFO Partha Sarathi Basu said.
Industry sources said the struggling low-cost carrier GoAir is considering a similar move. However, this could not be confirmed. An e-mail sent to the company on Friday remained unanswered.
08/09/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2008