Delhi fare drops as flight count soars

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, January 10

An increase in the number of flights from the Chandigarh international airport to Delhi has led to a drop in the air fares over the past two weeks.

Major online travel agencies posted a fare of Rs2,597 to Rs3,897 for a January 11 Chandigarh-Delhi flight. About one month ago, the cost of a ticket was about Rs15,000 in view of the farmers’ protest.

Air India, IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir and United Airlines operate flights between the two cities.

At present, a total of 29 flights depart for various destinations from the Chandigarh international airport. These include 12 flights to Delhi, four to Mumbai, three to Bengaluru, two to Dharamsala and one each to Pune, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Goa.

In view of the farmers’ protest on the Singhu border, which is on the Chandigarh-Delhi road, people were forced to look for other options such as taking a flight to reach Delhi, resulting in the five-fold increase in the air fares. This also resulted in an increase in the spot air fares besides increasing the occupancy by 30 to 40 percent.

The Delhi-Mumbai route has been traditionally the busiest in the country. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, flights originating from Delhi and headed to the eastern destinations, including Chennai and Kolkata, have been among the busiest.

A ticket for a flight from Chandigarh to Mumbai is being offered for Rs4,828 to Rs9,160 by various airliners while the one to Chennai was available for Rs5,171 to Rs10,661. Similarly, the air fare from Chandigarh to Hyderabad and Bengaluru ranged from Rs5,893 to Rs11,300 and Rs6,200 to Rs14,100, respectively. The air fare for Dharamsala and Jaipur flights ranged from Rs1,626 to Rs6,536 and Rs3,594 to Rs16,490, respectively.

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