Abu Dhabi: Air ticket fares from major Indian cities to UAE has dropped drastically after a five months high.
One-way fare from New Delhi-Dubai route can now be bought for less than Rs 14,000, down from Rs 40,000 a month ago.
Speaking to Siasat.com, Mohammed Omer Ali, operation manager of Musafir services, Hyderabad, said that airfares to the India-UAE have dropped almost halved.
In the month of December 2021, India-UAE airfare was over Rs 37,000 (1,814 Dirham). But now the fare from India to UAE cost about Rs 13,660 (Dirham 665) for one-way.
“In the month of October, I had paid approximately Rs 45,000 for me and my infant for a commercial flight, so I am happy as price fares have dropped for my returning flight,” said Hina Fatima, a woman from the city, who travelled to UAE in December and is now returning from her vacations.
“Airlines are charging the same fares as before – October-January is generally the peak period,” said a Safiya travel agent.
In October 2021, as per travel agents, one-way fares from Indian cities such as Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Kochi, Delhi were as high as Dirham 2,000 (Rs 40,373) near the departure date.
The airfares to the ever-busy UAE routes remain high in the month of December and January as people from India travelled to UAE to celebrate Christmas and New Year holidays. Plus, winter is the peak season for tourism in the country.
On Wednesday, February 9, the Indian government exempted seven-day quarantine for international travellers from Monday, February 14. However, pre-travel RT-PCR test valid for 72-hours before departure will continue to remain mandatory for all international passengers.
International restrictions
The suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services in India has been extended till February 28. Flights under the air bubble arrangement would be unaffected, according to the country’s aviation authorities.
To restrict and control the spread of COVID-19, India stopped foreign flights in 2020. However, flight limitations were eventually relaxed as part of air bubble agreements with specific nations.
New routes
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines began flying to new places in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for travel. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi has launched direct flights to Kochi, Kozhikode, and Thiruvananthapuram. Go First, an Indian low-cost airline now operates four weekly flights between Srinagar and Sharjah.
