The current one-way fares on popular routes like Delhi-Goa and Mumbai-Goa for December 24 are up 25-35 per cent over those last year.
Domestic airline bookings for this year’s Christmas-New Year travel season have risen 73 per cent over that of last year, as passengers are looking to cash in on discount offers and advance purchase fares, say executives of leading online travel agencies.
Between July and November, there has been a 73 per cent growth in the number of bookings for flights in the holiday period from December 22 to January 4.
In November alone, year-on-year growth in flight bookings for the season was almost 40 per cent, said Ranjeet Oak, senior vice-president (flights), MakeMyTrip, a leading Indian online travel agency.
The current one-way fares on popular routes like Delhi-Goa and Mumbai-Goa for December 24 are up 25-35 per cent over those last year. But fares for the festive holiday season on tickets booked during the June-November period were seven per cent lower than in 2013.
“Fares in October and November for travel around Christmas were eight-10 per cent lower than last year.
"These started picking up from the last week of November and are about 10 per cent higher now.
"A lot of inventory was sold in promotional offers and demand looks strong. We are expecting 30-35 per cent growth in airline bookings,” said Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com.
“With all-year-round promotional discounts from airlines on 2014, the overall airfares for this travel window (December 22 to January 4) have been seven per cent cheaper than last year.
"Specifically, the Hyderabad-Chennai, Kochi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai sector saw the biggest drop in airfares -- of 40 per cent, 30 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively,” said Oak.
He added fares for some routes like Kolkata-Mumbai (13.5 per cent), Pune-Chennai (11.5 per cent) and Guwahati-Kolkata (11.2 per cent) reflected only a marginal increase from last year.
