High airfares dampen holiday plans

Mumbai: Booking trends from online portals show a sluggish demand for air travel during the Diwali week as high fares dampen holiday plans.
Typically the third quarter is a strong season for airlines both from a volume and yield growth perspective. The average load factor in November tends to be around 75% as leisure travel picks up. Last November domestic airlines carried 5.2 million passengers, 4.65 lakh persons more over October. However slower booking trends suggest that the growth may be slower this year.
“The 30 day forward fares are up by anywhere from 10% to 70% on key routes around Diwali and this has resulted in sluggishness in bookings for the festival period. There is definitely a negative impact of the higher fares that we are seeing this year and bookings are over 10% down as compared to last year, said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer of Yatra.com. Dhall said that outlook for holiday season remains weak but hopes attractive hotel offers would offset high airfares and encourage people to travel.
Read news in full 03/10/13 Nagaland Post