Flight charges turn exorbitant from Chennai as Diwali nears

Chennai: The flight charges from Chennai have soared as Diwali is nearing and people, who have taken two doses of vaccine, are opting to fly out.

A one-way trip from Chennai to New Delhi now costs anything around Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 which normally costs anywhere between Rs 3,000 - 4,000.

Most of the bookings, according to travel agents are for New Delhi and Mumbai while people are also travelling to Bengaluru also. Mohammed Nazir of Akbar Travels while speaking to IANS said, "Fares to New Delhi have skyrocketed and are anywhere between Rs 7,000 to 12,000 and there are possibilities of the fare increasing more in the days to come. Mumbai fares range between Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000."

Travel agents also said that fares to Bengaluru have doubled from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,300 in the past few days and the possibilities of an increase are high in the days to come.

Nazir also said that the travel culture has almost reached the level of pre-Covid days and most of the travellers are preferring flights as there is a shortage of leave from their offices even though most are working from home.

Travel agents association of India also attributed the increase in fare to Diwali with several passengers flying out to Delhi and other North Indian states. S. Jayakesan, secretary of travel agents association, told IANS, "There is an increase in travel but people are also travelling within Tamil Nadu from Chennai and demands for flights to Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore have increased."

He said that most of those who are travelling to destinations within the state are for leisure travel, but the fares have skyrocketed with a ticket to Trichy costing Rs 7,000 from Chennai that is almost the fare to New Delhi from Chennai. Krishnakumar, a software professional in Chennai while speaking to IANS said, "The increased fares are not a problem to most of the people as several are trying to experience flying in a post-Covid environment. For people like me who have to frequently fly across the country on professional assignments, it is heartening to see people taking to flights and the smile returning to their faces after a two-year period of silence."