Mumbai: The steep rise in airfares last week has resulted in a drop in bookings, with people deferring their travel plans, online travel portals have said.
“We are seeing seven-eight per cent reduction in bookings since last week. Advance bookings have come down. But bookings closer to date are not impacted, as people have planned engagements and events,” said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer of Yatra.com. He added the rise in fares would lead to a five -per cent decline in passenger traffic in September and, subsequently, a drop in fares.
“While airfares on metro routes have increased 13 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, the rise is 91 per cent compared to July 2013. The dramatic increase and the magnitude of the rise have definitely shocked travellers. Also, there is a lot more search, as people try to book better advance fares. We have witnessed queries-to-booking conversion falling about 15 per cent in the first week of September. We expect this to normalise through the next few weeks, as passengers get used to the revised rates. The booking composition hasn’t changed much, except for a couple of days between the announcement of the ATF (aviation turbine fuel) price rise and the increase in airfares, wherein a lot of tickets were booked well in advance,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and chief executive, MakeMyTrip.
13/09/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard
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“We are seeing seven-eight per cent reduction in bookings since last week. Advance bookings have come down. But bookings closer to date are not impacted, as people have planned engagements and events,” said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer of Yatra.com. He added the rise in fares would lead to a five -per cent decline in passenger traffic in September and, subsequently, a drop in fares.
“While airfares on metro routes have increased 13 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, the rise is 91 per cent compared to July 2013. The dramatic increase and the magnitude of the rise have definitely shocked travellers. Also, there is a lot more search, as people try to book better advance fares. We have witnessed queries-to-booking conversion falling about 15 per cent in the first week of September. We expect this to normalise through the next few weeks, as passengers get used to the revised rates. The booking composition hasn’t changed much, except for a couple of days between the announcement of the ATF (aviation turbine fuel) price rise and the increase in airfares, wherein a lot of tickets were booked well in advance,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and chief executive, MakeMyTrip.
13/09/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard
