Delhi-Goa flights to cost 26% more in December

Airfares on top routes such as Delhi-Goa are up by as much as 26%, leading to a 5% drop in overall bookings for the Christmas-New Year advance purchase period this year, a study by travel portal MakeMyTrip.com has found.

Airfares on top routes such as Delhi-Goa are up by as much as 26%, leading to a 5% drop in overall bookings for the Christmas-New Year advance purchase period this year, a study by travel portal MakeMyTrip.com has found.

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Average airfare have gone up on the Delhi-Goa route this year by 26.9% compared to last year, on the Mumbai-Bangalore route by 8.8%, on the Delhi-Bangalore route by 11.4% and on the Delhi-Mumbai sector by 6.1%.

“We have seen a 5% drop in overall bookings for the Christmas-New Year advance purchase period this year,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and chief executive officer, India, MakeMyTrip.

“In the 60-90 day advance booking window, there is a 12% steep fall in bookings although the fares did not really change much on a year-on-year basis. In the 30-60 day (i.e. mid-October to mid-November) fares have risen by about 8%. Therefore, this sharp increase between the two advance purchase windows has created an artificial slowdown in an otherwise flat market. Delhi-Goa has seen the steepest increase at 27%, followed by Delhi-Bangalore at 12%. Not surprisingly, these are the two sectors with steepest drop in bookings too,” Magow added.