Domestic airfares are sailing northwards, surging up to 40 per cent in key routes on higher traffic and capacity constraints in the last six quarters. Still, ticket prices are among the lowest in the world, according to experts. India is one of the world’s fastest growing civil aviation markets and on average, 4.5 lakh passengers travel on domestic flights daily. While only a small percentage of the country’s population travels by air, capacity constraints are a key challenge as many aircraft are grounded mainly due to supply chain issues.

Aviation consultancy firm CAPA India said that average fares on the top-20 domestic routes had not moved significantly in nominal terms for the last two decades, until the last six quarters during which they have been up by close to 40 per cent. The routes include Mumbai-Delhi, Bengaluru-Delhi, Bengaluru-Mumbai and Delhi-Hyderabad. The trend has been driven by serious capacity shortages with an average of 150 aircraft on the ground due to supply chain and other issues, CAPA India said during a webinar this week and added that structurally, high pricing should continue into FY2026.

Sanjay Kumar, President & CEO of InterGlobe Technology Quotient Ltd, said:”In the last three years, especially after the coronavirus pandemic, fares have gone up. Still, the average fares are among the lowest in the world.

“For instance, the average fare for a flight between Delhi and Mumbai will be around Rs5,000 to Rs6,000. It might seem like a big rise in terms of percentage, but the quantum of rise is not significant when the overall inflationary pressure is taken into account.”