Bengaluru-Mumbai Flight Route Was the Most Expensive in March

The latest data released by the DGCA for March shows passengers booked their tickets on this route at peak prices.

Bengaluru-Mumbai may be one of the most lucrative routes for domestic airlines in India. The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the month of March shows passengers booked their tickets on this route at peak prices.

Three out of the seven commercial passenger airlines, including the country's largest private air carrier InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (IndiGo), sold the maximum number of tickets on this route when prices were at its peak. AirAsia India is not present in Mumbai and Vistara has no direct flight between these two cities.

IndiGo operates the maximum number of flights on the Bengaluru-Mumbai route.

This trend among fliers could be the result of the partial shutdown of Bengaluru airport runaway for repairs, which in turn would have driven up prices, Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at KPMG told BloombergQuint in an email.

March Passenger Traffic Growth Moderates

The monthly growth in domestic passenger traffic fell to 15 per cent in March this year compared to 25 per cent in the same period last year. March is generally a lean month for airlines in India.

While global oil prices are under control and the US dollar has depreciated against the rupee, non-fuel expenses like crew cost, training, spares and maintenance, ATC charges, airport levies and other overheads etc are on the rise. This coupled with capacity constraints at major airports may bump up airfares and dampen traffic growth.

Amber Dubey

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd – the parent company of IndiGo – led peers with a market share of 39.7 per cent, followed by Jet Airways with market share of 15.4 per cent.

(This article was first published in BloombergQuint)