Chennai: Airlines hike fares steeply, roll them back after row – Times of India

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CHENNAI: In what could be an indication of the kind of money stranded people may have to pay to fly domestic, airlines and online travel portals uploaded fares in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 for one-way from Chennai to Delhi and Chennai to Mumbai on Wednesday soon after the ministry of civil aviation announced that flights can be operated from May 25.
However, after it kicked up a quick controvery, airlines removed the fares and have not uploaded fresh fares for travel from May 25 to May 31. The high fares were removed at 10.45pm.
The fares came as a shock to several people who were waiting for booking flights so that they can reach home and their work places.
The fares that were available for booking were equivalent to one-way fare to Europe and the US of pre-shutdown days.
Fares from Chennai to almost all major cities were well above 15,000 for one-way trip for travel on days between May25 to May 31.
On Chennai-Delhi and Chennai-Kolkata route one-way ticket is priced in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 while a one-way ticket from Chennai to Mumbai is priced at 17,000 to 19,000. The fares remained high for travel till May 31. The cheapest fare on Mumbai route was 11,000 on May 27. It was showing expensive for the rest of the days till June 1.
Fares were not high for travel from June 1. The Chennai-Delhi fare for June 1 onwards are in the range of 5,000 to 7,000.
The ministry of civil aviation had allowed airlines to start booking only from Thursday morning. But the fares were loaded and being displayed with an option to book on Wednesday night before they were removed.
Air Passengers Association of India national president D Sudhakara Reddy said, “They were supposed to start booking only on Thursday morning. The high fares uploaded for booking show that the airlines want to make the most of the initial rush. The fares shown are unusually high. After the initial rush, not many will fly because of the scare. They will not be able to charge high fare after June.”