Pooja ShrivastavaBy: Pooja Shrivastava
MORE flights will be added to the India-UK network from today (16) as India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has increased the frequency from 30 to 60 per week.
The ministry also mentioned that out of 30 more flights, 26 flights will be operated by Air India, while the remaining four will be operated by Vistara, Times Travel said on Friday (13).
The decision came a week after outrage on social media over exorbitant prices of airfares from major Indian cities to the UK, with Delhi-London fares found to be selling at more than thrice the normal rates.
Reports of the fare hike made headlines when an official at India’s home ministry, Sanjeev Gupta, last Saturday (7) posted on social media that an economy-class one-way ticket on British Airways’ Delhi-London flight for August 26 was touching almost £4,000.
However, India’s ministry of civil aviation denied the official’s claims, insisting instead that the fare during August ranged between £980 to £1,360, which was still more than double that of pre-pandemic fares.
Passengers travelling from India to the UK have been asked to check fares on airline websites after it emerged that a one-way ticket to London in the economy ranged between Rs. 1,00,000 and Rs. 1,40,000 as compared to Rs. 55,000 and Rs. 80,00 in normal times.
Vistara, one of the four carriers between India and the UK, told said at the time that there were only 15 flights a week allowed currently on the India-UK route for Indian carriers and “when there is relaxation and more capacity allowed, it will automatically bring down prices”.
Inflated prices were also attributed to the “pent-up demand” as the UK moved India to the amber list from the red list which saw passengers who booked their tickets so most of the lowest-costing economy seats got booked on almost all regular flights from India to the UK.
Scheduled flights have been banned since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, but some international flights have been operating under the air bubble arrangement. India currently has an air bubble arrangement with 28 countries. This is going to remain so until the regular flights are once again the norm.
