This story is from October 17, 2017

Early birds lose out in pre-Diwali airfare war

A flurry of discounts offered by airlines between metro cities and smaller towns to boost post-Diwali travel caused a general dip in airfares across the board for one to two days' advance booking. Short booking fares have fallen by up to 14th the price of bookings done weeks in advance.
Early birds lose out in pre-Diwali airfare war
CHENNAI: A flurry of discounts offered by airlines between metro cities and smaller towns to boost post-Diwali travel caused a general dip in airfares across the board for one to two days' advance booking. Short booking fares have fallen by up to 14th the price of bookings done weeks in advance.
Fares from Chennai to Mumbai, Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to Hyderabad and also Pune are selling at their lowest.
An airline official said the fares were high nine days ago because of high demand following bookings made by travellers who were planning holidays.
“Airfares have dropped now because of the offers and a reduction in business or trade-related travel between the metro cities on the holidays. Most people are likely to have already planned their trips,“ an airline official said.
A Delhi-Mumbai ticket was selling at upwards of `2,166 for travel on Tuesday, according to fares available on a travel website, whereas Mumbai to Delhi fares were starting from `8,000.
The fare between the two cities had touched `15,800 when booked nine days in advance. Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travels said, “The announcement of discounts by airlines have triggered a dip in fares.There is high demand for tickets for travel between metro cities currently. The fares may go up.“
A Yatra.com statement said travelers are increasingly traveling for leisure and embarking on domestic travel for shorter trips which are considerably more affordable. A survey by the portal owed that there is a year showed that there is a yearon-year increase in travel bookings during the festive season. This seems to be largely driven by people heading home for the festival.Travelers are also opting to indulge in short getaways.

Indigo Airlines, SpiceJet and Vistara introduced discounts for travel post-Diwali.
However, fares on highdemand, short-haul domestic routes from Chennai which can be covered in less than an hour's flight remain high for travel on Tuesday with fares anywhere between `5,000 and `10,000.
Airfares to Kolkata too are high (from `10,000 to `17,000) because there are fewer flights to the West Bengal capital and trains.
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