THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Dec 5: Thousands of passengers have been troubled for the past two to three days due to the ongoing Indigo crisis. More than 2,500 flights have been cancelled in the last three days, and other airlines are now capitalising on the situation.
At present, IndiGo is the country’s largest airline. The disruption in its operations has been caused by technical issues and a shortage of crew. The grounding of IndiGo flights has had a direct impact on airfares.
According to the latest data from travel portals and ticket-booking websites, fares on routes where IndiGo dominated have skyrocketed. Reports suggest that tickets for domestic routes have become more expensive than flights to London and Paris.
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IndiGo holds more than 60 per cent of the domestic aviation market. With a large number of its flights cancelled, the entire system has been thrown off balance. Air tickets that normally cost between ₹6,000 and ₹8,000 are now touching ₹50,000 to ₹60,000.
Kolkata, Mumbai, Udaipur, Patna, and Delhi are among the most affected routes. Spot fares for several cities have surged by up to 800 per cent.
A Delhi–Mumbai ticket, usually priced around ₹7,000, has now shot up to ₹70,000. Likewise, a Delhi–Patna ticket that normally costs ₹5,000 has crossed ₹47,000.
According to economic experts, the issue goes beyond flight cancellations. They attribute the steep rise to the impact of dynamic pricing algorithms. With IndiGo cancelling hundreds of flights in a single day, thousands of seats vanished from the system.
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It becomes difficult for other airlines—such as Vistara and Air India—to accommodate these passengers because they have limited seats. When travellers search for alternatives after the cancellations, the algorithm detects a major spike in demand and automatically pushes fares to their maximum limit.