APD | India: Airfares sour as Boeing aircraft gets banned

By APD writer Rishika Chauhan

NEW DELHI, March 15 - As the ban on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraftbegan on Wednesday, airfares across the country have significantly increased.

Flights operated bySpicejet are particularly hit as 13 of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft have been grounded. 

Meanwhile around 150 flights have been cancelled so far, consequently the fares have increased by 40-50% whilelast-minute ticket priceshave registered a 100% spike.

The airline operators in India are reeling under pressure as many of them are already facing losses.

IndiGo, one of India’s leadingdomestic airlineshascancelled 30 flights per day till March 31 due to a shortage of pilots. While Jet Airways, has grounded 50 jets.

A Hindustan Times report quotedSharatDhall, the chief operating officer of a travel search engine explaining the current aviation crisis, “At least 50 planes are out of action or grounded on the domestic front owing to multiple reasons. That is a significant reduction in domestic airline capacity.”

“The additional capacity coming in is not likely to cover this in the short term, while demand is going to be robust over the next few months because of the school holidays season and surging leisure travel,” he added.

Meanwhile as Boeing has grounded its 737 MAX 8 aircraft through out the world after the Ethiopian airlines flight ET-302 crash, international flights have also been hit. 

Since Wednesday, 34 international flights to Mumbai and 12 flights for Delhi have been cancelled.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)