Airfares between Delhi and Kolkata have skyrocketed above ₹36,000 in anticipation of the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly elections, with tickets for last-minute bookings as high as ₹36,000. And a lot of the passengers were stunned, especially when someone is waiting for an election and making a reservation quickly to get to the state, and that’s the moment the spike climaxes.
A prebooking Delhi-Kolkata flight ticket valued at ₹5,000 to ₹8,000 (for bookings) runs roughly a normal day. But that situation is drastically changing, with the elections closer to being held and high demand causing prices to spike several times.
Election Rush Driving Demand
Central to this surge is a mass movement across states, with hordes of people going to participate in the elections in West Bengal. In fact, the state is holding two separate polls on April 23 and April 29, so the travel demand will peak in relation to all this.
It has been reported that thousands of migrant workers and residents like those in Delhi are rushing back home to vote. Tickets have risked their survival to avoid total disappearance in travel demand as airfares climb to new peaks.
Limited Supply Adds Pressure
The price surge is not just due to demand. Supply was already tightening this summer, after we experienced a drop in domestic flights. Some studies report that airlines are flying fewer flights than they did a year ago, and ticket prices at the most popular routes are increasing.
Also, rising operating costs and fuel prices have forced airlines to raise fares to the tune of higher prices per unit, and insiders project domestic ticket prices to rise 10–15% on average.
Standard vs Current Prices
In contrast, on the travel platform, one-way fares in normal days are as low as ₹5,000–₹6,000, but on average, ₹10,000–₹12,000 when you've already made a purchase. But election trips being the peak season, they are those last-minute fares that have soared in the last hour, some flights booked on time and priced at between ₹30,000 and ₹36,000.
Impact on Travellers
Those price spikes inhibited budget travellers and migrant workers from going out in the same way that they demand cheap tickets. Others have started seeking transport and alternative ones where they have very high demand but where the places they can go are not many, like trains, buses. The big ticket price spiking on major events and festivals is symptomatic of elevated demand, with the tickets costing an enormous sum.
What Travellers Can Do
Experts advise that travellers:
- If possible, book your tickets well in advance.
- Consider alternate airports or the city route.
- Search booking sites for fare warnings.
Large-scale events disrupt the economics of travel from Delhi to Kolkata and back; the high airfares across the cities in Delhi, ahead of elections in West Bengal, are evidence of this. It has been in demand over supply, and passengers now have to pay more for last-minute travel because of that added demand. The election year is coming up, and the fee will be higher, so you can do nothing but plan ahead to take advantage of an increase in those charges.
