UAE-India Airfares Surge Up To Dh700 Due To Indigo Cancellations, Peak Travel Demand

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Airfares between the UAE and India have jumped by around 25 per cent, or up to Dh700, due to IndiGo flight disruptions and cancellations.

In addition, the peak travel season has set in across the UAE, resulting in a further spike in airfares on the busy UAE-India corridor and denting travellers' budgets.

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Sameer Bagul, board member, Cleartrip ME, said Indigo operates over 220 weekly flights to India from the UAE, holding the largest share of passengers on this route, so the impact is very significant, disrupting people's personal and professional lives.

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“People who are travelling to India or to Dubai for tourism will be most impacted as they have to cancel their plans with potential losses towards hotels and activities booked. We are in touch with the airline to provide information to travellers, but are also facing their limited bandwidth challenges,” Bagul told Khaleej Times in an interview.

"We have seen fares rising by 20-25 per cent, largely due to the December travel season, but not experienced further increases due to IndiGo issues,” he said, adding that flights from the UAE to Delhi and Kerala sectors saw the highest increase in airfares.

Airfares for the next weekend from Dubai to Delhi reach as high as Dh2,880.

Avinash Adnani, managing director of Neo Travels and Tourism, said airfares on other carriers on the UAE-India routes have increased by about 25 per cent due to uncertainty over IndiGo flights, boosting demand.

“Airfares have increased by around Dh500-Dh700 because people are willing to pay more to arrive on time. In addition, peak travel season has started as well with the school holidays in the UAE,” he said.

Adil Tanrıverdi, CEO of Tripventura Tourism, said that IndiGo holds a significant share of the UAE-India routes.

"Their operational disruptions create an immediate supply shortage. Reduced seat inventory pushes prices up through basic supply-demand mechanics. UAE travellers face 15-25 per cent fare increases on popular routes during peak disruption periods. Data shows increases of 18-22 per cent on major routes since mid-November. Dubai-Mumbai jumped from the Dh800-900 range to the Dh950-1,100 range. Dubai-Delhi moved from Dh750-850 to Dh900-1,050. Abu Dhabi routes show similar patterns with 20-25 per cent spikes,” he added.

Tanrıverdi elaborated that airfares on Dubai-Bangalore saw the highest increase of 28 per cent, followed by Dubai-Hyderabad (26 per cent) and Dubai-Mumbai (22 per cent).

Tier-2 cities bear the brunt

Travel industry executives said people travelling from the UAE are finding it challenging to reach Tier-2 cities because IndiGo, India's largest carrier, has a 60 per cent market share.

“Secondary cities show sharper increases due to fewer alternative carriers. Tier-2 destinations like Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram hit over 30 per cent increases during weekend travel windows,” added Tanrıverdi.

Avinash Adnani of Neo Travels and Tourism said that IndiGo has a very strong domestic market share, so people used to travel from the UAE to Delhi and Mumbai, then to the smaller cities.“Therefore, the entire travel journey to smaller Tier-2 cities has been disturbed. A lot of domestic flights have been cancelled, people's bags are missing, and it is chaotic, domestically,” he added.

When will airfares stabilise?

Adnani noted that the situation at IndiGo has just started to improve, with flights resuming, though slightly late.“We hope things will stabilise in the next one week to 10 days' time.”

He advised passengers travelling between the UAE and India to expect delays and to check their e-mails and messages for updates on potential flight schedule changes.“Don't go to the airport without checking. Sutaiton is improving and will stabilise over the next few days. But be ready for a little bit of delays.”

Adil Tanrıverdi hoped that if IndiGo resolves aircraft availability issues within 4-6 weeks, fares would normalise by late January.“Extended problems push stabilisation to February-March. Competing carriers will add capacity, but it will take 60-90 days to materially impact pricing. Spring travel season (March-April) may see sustained elevation regardless of IndiGo's recovery,” he added.

Bagul suggested that if people can reschedule their travel by a few days, then the fares of other airlines will normalise.

“We are following updates from the airline management who have mentioned schedules stabilising by December 15, but we reckon due to peak travel season, it may take 3-4 weeks for flights to get fully normalised,” he added.

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