Vistara Crisis: Spot Airfares On Key Routes Surge Up To 39% Amid Reduction Of Flights
'Flight fares will definitely surge in April and I see a strong overhang of the Vistara crisis,' says aviation consultant Sanjay Lazar.
Spot airfares across some major routes have surged amid Vistara's standoff with its pilots that led to the embattled airline scaling back its operations by around 25–30 flights per day. The spike in airfares ranged from 8% to 39% on April 7 as compared with March 7, according to an overview of the data of four major routes from Ixigo.
The cost of a one-way flight from New Delhi to Mumbai increased 12% to Rs 6,357 on April 7 from Rs 5,683 on March 7. The cost for a one-way flight from Delhi to Bengaluru surged 39% to Rs 9,643 on April 7, compared to Rs 6,948 on the same date in previous month.
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The fares have come into focus amid Vistara's plans to scale back roughly 10% of the capacity it was operating. This comes after several flights got delayed and cancelled due to crew unavailability as pilots were unhappy with a new scheme of compensation.
"We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25–30 flights per day," a Vistara spokesperson had said in a statement. "This will take us back to the same level of flight operations as at the end of February 2024, and provide the much-needed resilience and buffer in the rosters."
Although the airline has not specified the duration of this cut, this would roughly mean scaling back around 1,000 flights in a month.
"Flight fares will definitely surge in April and I see a strong overhang of the Vistara crisis." aviation consultant Sanjay Lazar said. "This is because pilots' shortage can't be resolved so easily. This may continue."
According to a CAPA India's report from November 2023, the sector would've seen around 200 grounded aircrafts by the end of the financial year 2024. This included aircraft from IndiGo, Air India Ltd. and even SpiceJet Ltd.
In this year's domestic summer schedule from March 31 to Oct. 26, Vistara had the second highest departures scheduled per week at 2,324. This was 25% higher compared to last year's domestic summer schedule.
With only two groups of airlines — IndiGo and Air India — primarily flying, airfares have gone up systematically, according to Ajay Awtaney, an independent aviation expert.
"The spot airfares had to rise.... People, too, now look at flights from (a) spot lense," Awtaney said. "They don't book three to six months in advance anymore. A psychological change has happened."
