Jet Airways shutting down sends airfares soaring; 62% hike on Mumbai-Hyderabad route, Mumbai-Delhi sees 52% jump

There has been a spike in airfares, mainly after grounding of scores of planes by ailing Jet Airways earlier and then shutting down of operations on 17 April 2019.On Tuesday, aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a meeting with representatives of various airlines and asked airlines to reduce fares on ten domestic routes to "reasonable levels" as ticket prices on these high-density routes have risen up to 30 percent in last one month, according to a senior official.[caption id="attachment_5432611" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. Reuters.[/caption]A quick check on a few routes booked in the first 10 days of April for travel this month shows a phenomenal hike in some routes. Tickets booked for travel in May shows a comparatively lower hike on routes compared to bookings for travel in April.Tickets booked a week before for travel between 1-10 April showed up to 62 percent airfare hike.  Flights on Mumbai-Hyderabad show a spike of 62 percent for April over same period last year, according to data provided by Cleartrip.com. Likewise, Mumbai-Delhi route showed a 52 percent jump in fares, Delhi-Mumbai 49 percent hike, and Hyderabad-Mumbai fares were costlier by 48 percent.

Routes	YoY % change in airfares*
BOM - HYD	62%
BOM - DEL	52%
DEL - BOM	49%
HYD - BOM	48%
BLR - BOM	41%
BOM - BLR	38%
BLR - HYD	18%
HYD - BLR	16%
DEL - BLR	15%
BLR - DEL	10%
Note: For bookings made within 7 days of travel period of 1-10 April; Data source: Cleartrip

For travel between 1-15 May, tickets booked between 11-16 April, some routes showed rise while some had only marginal highs and dips. For instance, the highest fare rise during this period was in the Delhi-Chennai route at 29 percent and Chennai-Delhi at 21 percent compared to same period last year, according to data provided by Yaatra.comFor travel between 16-30 May, tickets booked between 11-16 April there is a 46 percent hike in Bengaluru-Delhi route, 27 percent in Mumbai-Delhi, and 25 percent hike in Delhi-Kolkata.