MANGALURU: Air fares to Gulf countries have soared, thanks to the holiday season. Fares to some of the destinations have almost doubled in June and July.
The fares for Dammam to Mangaluru, non-stop flight, has touched Rs 50,000, the highest among all Gulf countries. The air sector with the highest traffic from Mangaluru—UAE has seen a steep rise in flight tickets. On normal days, post-pandemic, a two-way ticket price was less than Rs 25,000 and the same has jumped from Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000. Even fares from Bahrain to Mangaluru flights have crossed Rs 50,000. “On normal days, two-way fares were available for 200 BD (Rs 41,000) and the same has jumped to 300 BD (Rs 62,000).This is a steep rise,” said Vincent Sequeira, an expat working in Bahrain for several years.
According to an aviation geek who goes by the Twitter handle: Travelgeek @geek_ixe, the Muscat-Mangaluru air route is the cheapest in July. “Despite fares crossing Rs 50,000, Dammam-Mangaluru air tickets are sold out for the first two weeks of July. It is high time that MIA has more flights to the Gulf. We require at least one daily flight on all Gulf-Mangaluru sectors and an additional daily flight to Dubai. Adding to it, we must also get connected to unserved destinations like Jeddah and Riyadh,” Travelgeek commented.
The Dubai-Mangaluru route operated by Air India Express is reportedly sold out for the coming days. Except for Muscat, all Gulf sectors’ air ticket prices are above Rs 25,000 in July. “The Dubai return ticket was available for as low as Rs 7,000 during off-season, and the same has increased to Rs 28,000 in July due to Eid and annual school holidays in Gulf,” said Ayisha Shahzin, an executive at Akbar Travels, Mangaluru, adding that fares are likely to come down from August.
Another travel agent rued that air carrier companies are fleecing passengers to make up for the losses incurred during the pandemic.
“The budgetary air carrier is not at all budget-friendly. The flight ticket to MIA from Kuwait costs about 340 KD (round trip- about Rs 86K )this season which otherwise costs 130 KD. I have decided to fly to Mumbai through a Kuwait based private air carrier and then fly to Mangaluru by domestic flight. I will save about Rs 20,000 (80 KD) per ticket,” said an expat working in Kuwait.
