New Delhi: Domestic fares in India rose by 29 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of this financial year compared to that in Q2 last year, as the average overall ticket prices for both domestic and global travel rose by nine percent, a study showed.
“Airfares in India across domestic and international travel saw an overall price rise of nine percent Quarter on Quarter (QoQ), with domestic fares within India witnessing a considerable increase of 29 percent,” the latest American Express Business Travel Monitor quarterly study said.
While the QoQ domestic fares rose by 29 percent, the year-over-year increase was 11 percent, it said.
Flying gets costlier in India. Reuters
The fares from India to Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as well as Intra-Asia Pacific fares saw a five percent rise, while those to the Americas overall witnessed a marginal increase of two percent, it said.
In the last quarter, India had observed a strong five percent rise in airfares for both Intra-Asia Pacific and EMEA destinations, with a significant hike of 13 percent in business class fares for Intra Asia Pacific travel QoQ.
But fares from India to the Americas saw a marginal increase of two percent QoQ, while full business airfare to this region remained flat, the study for the quarter said.
American Express Business Travel Monitor tracks a set of round trip airfares originating in the Asia Pacific region to 370 city pairs across the world. Ten countries — Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan, are covered.
Carl Jones, head of American Express Advisory Services for Asia-Pacific, said India and Australia in particular have seen significant increases in domestic fares which have had an impact on overall fare performance for the region.
“We believe the environment will continue to remain dynamic, and to stabilise expenses on business travel, companies should look at cost- effective travel programmes and execute multi-year contracts with key domestic and international carriers,” American Express Advisory Services for Asia-Pacific, vice president, Sandeep Shastri said.
He said the contributing factors to a spike in fares included increase in travel demands, steady rise in inflation, reduction in capacity and flight network disruptions leading to reduced supply in the market.
PTI
