UAE-India travel: Airfares set to hit Dh3,000 as Air India cancels, realigns flights

Airfares on the UAE-India routes are set for a huge increase of around 300 per cent during peak summer months as the Indian national carriers cancelled flights to some busy routes last month.

Travel agents say that airlines have deployed smaller aircraft on the routes which has exacerbated the situation, resulting in an increase in airfares.

They called on the Indian government to allow more capacity on the UAE-India routes because it is the need of the hour due to the massive outbound traffic growth that the South Asian country is witnessing.

Starting March 25, Tata Group, which owns Air India and Air India Express, has started cancelling and realigning flights to different cities from the UAE including Kozhikode, Indore and Goa.

Tata Group took over Air India in January 2022 after winning a $2.17 billion bid and decided to realign routes that are commercially feasible for the new owner. Air India last month announced a plan to buy 220 planes from Boeing, and 250 from Airbus worth $70 billion, to upgrade its fleet and target long-haul routes.

TP Sudheesh, general manager of Deira Travels, said the decision to cancel flights and deploy smaller aircraft has impacted travellers negatively in the form of higher airfares, especially towards the South Indian state of Kerala.

“Actually, the flights were already going full and then they pulled out Air India flights, especially to Calicut from Dubai and Sharjah. So the travel cost has gone up because the number of passenger of seats has been reduced. Cochin route is also affected because earlier, [the] bigger aircraft Dreamliner was deployed and now a smaller aircraft has been deployed,” he said.

Up to 300% increase in airfares

He said airfares usually increase between 100 to 300 per cent during the peak summer season when compared to low seasonal rates.

“[The] Indian government should give approval either to foreign or Indian carriers to operate additional flights. And a lot of foreign carriers are ready to operate on India routes, therefore, this is the high time for the Indian government to proactively respond to meet demand.”

Avinash Adnani, managing director of Pluto Travels, said bigger aircraft such as Dreamliner was deployed on certain routes such as Goa and now it has been replaced with the smaller low-cost carrier AI Express jets, resulting in further tightening of seating capacity to India routes.

“This has resulted in a capacity reduction, hence airfares are on the rise. If seating capacity is not increased ahead of the summer as passenger traffic from India is set for a huge spike this year as compared to last year, airfares are set to see a 25 per cent hike from the current level,” he said, adding that unless the frequency of flights is increased by airlines, airfares will stay on the higher side in near future.

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