Higher demand, fewer flights fuel summer airfares

Airfares are climbing And people are planning to travel more.

- Anu Sharma

Two contrasting trends are merging this summer, belying the gloomy outlook of rising airfares hurting travel.

Flight tickets are turning expensive because of rising demand and, more pertinently, due to not enough capacity available to handle that demand-IndiGo, India's largest airline, has grounded 20% of its fleet; Mumbai airport, India's second busiest, has been asked to cut down flights.

Travel group Thomas Cook has seen a year-on-year (y-o-y) uptick of approximately 10-15% in advance airfares for April-May on routes connecting hubs such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai to popular summer destinations of Srinagar, Chandigarh, Leh, Bagdogra and Goa. As per travel platform ixigo, advanced airfares have surged by around 30% for routes such as Delhi-Srinagar and Delhi-Goa.

Still, based on advance bookings and search trends, industry executives say air traffic is also likely to grow in the summer months, with demand primarily rising for leisure destinations.