New Delhi/Srinagar, Aug 3 (IANS): Average air fares to and from Srinagar have increased by 20-25 per cent after the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday curtailed the Amarnath Yatra and issued an advisory asking pilgrims and tourists to leave the valley "as soon as possible".
Accordingly, month-on-month figures show an average increase of 20-25 per cent increase in fares.
Since yesterday, the prices have also increased for spot bookings. The one-way Srinagar-Delhi flight that otherwise costs between INR 3,000-5,000, has shot up to INR 37,915 for Vistara Airlines Saturday 12.40 p.m. Srinagar to Delhi flight via Jammu on goibibo.com.
On other booking sites such as Cleartrip, Yatra, MakeMyTrip Srinagar-Delhi flights for August 3 are priced between INR 15,000 and INR 20,000.
"Average airfares for flights to and from Srinagar have also increased by 20-25 per cent," Rajnish Kumar, Co-founder, ixigo. "We anticipate the current unrest will lead to a further decrease in travel bookings over the coming weeks," he added.
Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com told IANS: "Air fares from Srinagar have gone up due to the sudden rush of tourists to cut short their plans and get out of Srinagar."
Sources said the airfares on the route have risen despite the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) verbally communicating to airlines to be ready for additional flight deployment in the wake of the state advisory.
While airlines contend there is no shortage of flight, scheduled flights are getting completely full in absence of additional deployment. The pressure on flights has also pushed up the prices. So far, no directive has been given to the airlines to keep the prices under check.
