UAE-India flights: Airfares rise after New Delhi eases travel restrictions

Airfares between the UAE and India have seen a modest increase after the Indian government scrapped mandatory seven-day home quarantine for international travellers on Wednesday.

Travel industry executives in the UAE told Khaleej Times suggested that removal of PCR test requirements from UAE to India and the removal of rapid PCR test at the Indian airport prior to the departure to UAE will give a good boost to travel between the two countries.

As the government steadily eased travel restrictions, they hoped that these conditions would also be dropped sooner.

“We are seeing a marginal increase in airfares between Dubai and India as demand is likely to pick up in the next two to three days. Since quarantine is over, many Indian business travellers want to come to Dubai for business and Expo 2020, and because there is no quarantine when they go back. Airfares for March have started picking up marginally, and there are a good number of queries after the travel rules were relaxed on Wednesday. We see good demand picking up in coming days,” says Avinash Adnani, managing director of Pluto Travels.

Adnani hoped that India would resume regular international flights and this bubble flight system would be removed.

“Demand will increase if India opens up regular international flights. Then we might see some more flights being added and following that fares will likely to come down slightly,” he added.

Adnani projected that if all the Covid-19 related restrictions are removed between the UAE and India, then airfares will rise substantially.

- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com