Domestic airfares have significantly increased for the upcoming two long weekends in April, due to the long list of public holidays in the month. The cheapest round trip fare for Mumbai-Srinagar during the April 7-9 Easter weekend was Rs 52,000. For Dehradun, the cost of a round trip from Mumbai was Rs 34,000, and for Kochi, the fare was Rs 13,000.
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On the other hand, for the next long weekend of April 14 to 16, fares for Mumbai-Srinagar have remained at Rs 31,800 and Dehradun at Rs 14,600. Kochi remains unchanged at Rs 13,000. The booking trend of passengers purchasing air tickets a few days before travel, which emerged during the pandemic, is no longer prevalent. Goa, the most popular short-holiday destination, is in high demand, with airfares starting from Rs 10,000 for a flight that lands at 11:30 p.m during the Easter weekend.
However, convenient flights departing from Mumbai during the Ambedkar Jayanti weekend (April 14-16) are priced at Rs 17,500. OYO, Thomas Cook (India), and SOTC Travel have observed a three-fold increase in travel demand for the consecutive extended weekends in April, including Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday, Ambedkar Jayanti, and Eid al-Fitr, as reported by Times of India.
Despite February and March being weak months for travel, there has been an unprecedented demand for airfares, according to Aloke Bajpai of Ixigo.
Airfares on popular routes from hubs like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru to destinations such as Chandigarh, Srinagar, Dehradun, Kochi, Goa, and Port Blair have witnessed a 20-60 percent surge during the long weekends in April compared to March, indicating a rise in holiday traffic and migrant workers traveling home for breaks.
Despite the pandemic, domestic passenger traffic during the long mid-April weekend last year exceeded 4 lakh passengers per day for the first time. This April, airfares are comparatively higher than last year’s for the same period, indicating a rise in demand. But the trend of offering the cheapest fares on metro-to-metro routes and for late night or early morning flights to popular leisure destinations remains the same. Destinations such as Srinagar, Leh, Kochi, Dehradun, Mangaluru, and Tirupati continue to have the most expensive flights from metros like Mumbai and Delhi.
The top 10 most booked destinations remain consistent, with Goa occupying the top spot. There has been a 54 percent increase in average room nights booked this year over the corresponding period in 2019 in domestic packages, according to Rajesh Magow of MakeMyTrip.
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