This Christmas, flying to Kuala Lumpur costs more than to NYC
Maximum Fare To Singapore Touches ₹1.4L
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:
High demand has pushed up air fares to Southeast Asian countries for Christmas and New Year.
The fares have touched ₹1.2 lakh for a round trip to Malaysia and ₹1.4 lakh to Singapore, the most popular destinations for Chennaiites. The two cities are also transit hubs for people travelling to Indonesia, Vietnam and other emerging destinations. In comparison, a round trip to London costs ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh, and to New York ₹75,000 to ₹1 lakh.
Travel operators hope that airlines might offer discounts to make travel affordable and to attract last-minute travellers. A two-way ticket to Bangkok is in the range of ₹20,000 to ₹34,000, to Kuala Lumpur is ₹13,000 to ₹1.2lakh, to Singapore is ₹23,000 to ₹1.4 lakh and to Dubai ₹27,000 to ₹37,000 for travel on Christmas week.
“It has doubled on most of the routes,” said Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travel. People who travel beyond Southeast Asia to destinations in Australia and the Far East are forced to spend more because of this, he noted.
Airlines have closed their lower economy seats and opened only premium seats for sale. This is considered to be a reason for the peak in air fare. “Fares out of Chennai are higher than other cities in the south. All flights to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand go full. This has reduced availability of seats. Hotels in these countries too have increased their tariff,” said Ahmed.
Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd isn’t surprised. “Christmas and New Year are peak travel time for people across the world. This leads to a spike in air fares and hotel rates. It is always better to book at least one month in advance as reasonable deals would be available,” he said.
Indians travelling abroad during the year-end also prefer Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Egypt. “We see demand for these routes picking up and expect fares to go up by at least 20%,” said Anand. Ahmed said air fares to Australia had increased by ₹25,000, compared to last month.
Anand said it is the best time to travel to the Middle East, as the weather is pleasant and places such as Bahrain and Qatar are opening up for tourism.
Maximum Fare To Singapore Touches ₹1.4L
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:
High demand has pushed up air fares to Southeast Asian countries for Christmas and New Year.
The fares have touched ₹1.2 lakh for a round trip to Malaysia and ₹1.4 lakh to Singapore, the most popular destinations for Chennaiites. The two cities are also transit hubs for people travelling to Indonesia, Vietnam and other emerging destinations. In comparison, a round trip to London costs ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh, and to New York ₹75,000 to ₹1 lakh.
Travel operators hope that airlines might offer discounts to make travel affordable and to attract last-minute travellers. A two-way ticket to Bangkok is in the range of ₹20,000 to ₹34,000, to Kuala Lumpur is ₹13,000 to ₹1.2lakh, to Singapore is ₹23,000 to ₹1.4 lakh and to Dubai ₹27,000 to ₹37,000 for travel on Christmas week.
“It has doubled on most of the routes,” said Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travel. People who travel beyond Southeast Asia to destinations in Australia and the Far East are forced to spend more because of this, he noted.
Airlines have closed their lower economy seats and opened only premium seats for sale. This is considered to be a reason for the peak in air fare. “Fares out of Chennai are higher than other cities in the south. All flights to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand go full. This has reduced availability of seats. Hotels in these countries too have increased their tariff,” said Ahmed.
Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd isn’t surprised. “Christmas and New Year are peak travel time for people across the world. This leads to a spike in air fares and hotel rates. It is always better to book at least one month in advance as reasonable deals would be available,” he said.
Indians travelling abroad during the year-end also prefer Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Egypt. “We see demand for these routes picking up and expect fares to go up by at least 20%,” said Anand. Ahmed said air fares to Australia had increased by ₹25,000, compared to last month.
Anand said it is the best time to travel to the Middle East, as the weather is pleasant and places such as Bahrain and Qatar are opening up for tourism.
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