The coming festival season will burn a big hole in the pockets of expats who plan to fly down to Kerala ahead of Christmas and New Year with the airfares going north on the popular routes even a month ahead. Normally, the air fares would shoot up just ahead of the journey in the dynamic pricing system in response to the demand for and availability of seats at the last minute.
At present, airfares to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on November 26 are in the range of ₹6,600 to ₹11,500, while a low-cost budget airline ticket is being sold a month after for the same trip in the price range of ₹30,773 to ₹44,453. For instance, a Dubai-Thiruvananthapuram ticket of Air Arabia on December 22 ahead of Christmas will cost ₹44,543. This is the case with other routes connecting Kerala with West Asia during the coming festival period. A Doha to Thiruvananthapuram ticket which is available for ₹16,500 on November 26 is being sold at a rate of ₹49,205 on December 22, according to booking sites.
Deal with travel agents
This means when the festival is around the corner, the airfares would touch the ₹1 lakh mark on many routes. Anticipating heavy rush for the festival season, travel agents have struck deals with major airlines blocking a certain percentage of seats. This has reduced the number of seats available on the public domain even a month before the journey, resulting in high demand for tickets and low availability of seats.
Speaking to The Hindu, K.V. Muralidharan, president, Kerala Association of Travel Agents, said this was an age-old trend in the industry with big groups entering into deals with airlines for bulk numbers of seats during peak travel periods. Though the passengers would be forced to pay through their nose for one-way trips, there would be some relief for round trips, he said.
There will be a huge rush of expats during the Christmas and New Year season. Further, the peak international tourist season begins in Kerala during December, increasing the demand for tickets.
