IndiGo disruption leads to airfares surging up to 10X

Airfares across Indian carriers surged to as much as ten times their usual rates on Friday following IndiGo's mass cancellation of over 1,000 flights, with round-trip tickets on major routes crossing ₹80,000-₹90,000 as passengers scrambled for limited seats on rival services.

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A Delhi-Mumbai return ticket reached ₹93,000, while return fares to Bengaluru touched ₹92,000, Kolkata ₹94,000 and Chennai ₹80,000-compared to typical same-day economy round-trip fares of ₹20,000-₹25,000 on these routes. Even last-minute bookings under normal circumstances rarely exceed ₹30,000.

By Friday evening, most flights were sold out, leaving passengers with little choice but to pay highly inflated fares or postpone travel.

"A return ticket that should have cost around ₹15,000 cost me ₹50,000 with another airline. I had no option but to buy the expensive tickets. It's terribly unfair on fliers," said a 36-yearold Delhi-based lawyer who booked a ticket to Bengaluru.

Travel agents said passengers facing emergencies were paying five to ten times normal fares, while others chose to extend their stays or seek alternative transport.

"While people in an emergency have chosen to still book other airlines, we have most customers telling us that they want to extend their stay and wait. Booking trains for shorter journeys of four to seven hours is also emerging as an option," said Rahul Saraswat, general manager at Delhi-based travel company Shivam Services.