Tougher road to God’s own country? Here is how much airfares to Kerala now cost

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in cooling down inflated airfares, saying they were affecting Kerala’s tourism sector.

“Let me bring to your kind attention a very important issue that is pulling the travel industry down and putting non-residents to extreme hardship. Airfares in both the International and Domestic sectors have become exorbitantly high recently. They are very high when compared to the fares that had been prevailing in pre-COVID times,” Vijayan wrote.

In the past four years, Kerala, where tourism contributes 11 per cent to the State’s GDP, could witness a satisfactory tourist season only in 2019 as it was devastated by floods in 2018 and waves of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.

Kerala is connected with most Indian states by air. Here is the analysis of average airfare for the next 30 days (July 4 to August 4) from different states to Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram. (Prices are approximate and may change)

From Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram, the average price of an air ticket is Rs 10,500 approximately for Indigo Airlines, Rs 11,000 for Vistara and Rs 11,500 for Air India. For flying from Chandigarh, the average prices are Rs 7,000 for Indigo Airlines and Rs 10,000 for Vistara.

The average airfare from Lucknow to Thiruvananthapuram is Rs 6,200 for Indigo and Rs 12,500 for Air India. From Ahmedabad to Thiruvananthapuram, the average prices are Rs 6,200 for Indigo, Rs 13,000 for Vistara and Rs 22,000 for Air India.

For flying from Bhopal to Thiruvananthapuram, the flyer has to pay Rs 7,200 for Indigo and Rs 14,000 for Air India approximately. From Patna to Thiruvananthapuram, the average air fare is Rs 8,500 for Indigo, Rs 11,000 for Vistara and Rs 14,000 for Air India.

The average cost of flying from Raipur to Thiruvananthapuram is Rs 6,400 for Indigo, Rs 12,000 for both Air India and Vistara. Flying from Hyderabad to Thiruvananthapuram costs Rs 5,200 for Indigo, Rs 14,000 for Air India and Rs 12,500 for Vistara.

In Vijayawada, the average air tickets prices for Thiruvananthapuram area Rs 7,500 for Indigo, Rs 12,000 for Vistara and Rs 14,500 for Air India.From Bengaluru to Thiruvananthapuram, the average flying cost is Rs 5,000 for Indigo, Rs 12,000 for both Vistara and Air India.

The average airfare from Kolkata to Thiruvananthapuram is Rs 6,000 for Indigo, Rs 12,000 for Vistara and Rs 14,000 for Air India. For flying from Guwahati to Thiruvananthapuram, the average prices are Rs 6,000 for Indigo and Rs 12,000 for Vistara.

As per the data available at state-owned retailer Indian Oil’s website, the price of jet fuel on Monday was Rs 1,41,232.87 per kilo litre. Last year in October it was around Rs 80,000, almost 40 per cent less.

Aviation companies, raising concerns, have claimed that they will be unable to put planes in the air if prices keep rising as 60 per cent of airfare charges depend on fuel prices.

The prices are rising in oil-import-dependent India due to the disruptions in supply chains due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and Rupee depreciating against the US dollar, making imports costlier.

Fuel rates have been on the rise in India because energy prices globally have risen on the back of supply concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demand returning after being hit by the pandemic. India is 85% dependent on imports to meet its oil needs.

(Data collected from several air ticketing platforms)

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