Airfares more than doubled due to runway closure at Mumbai, Bengaluru airports, says report

Simultaneous closure of runways at Mumbai and Bengaluru airports led to an around 50 percent increase in airfares, reported Business Standard, adding that airlines had been forced to cancel or reschedule flights.

The Mumbai airport is recarpeting a runway and has restricted flight movements between 11 AM to 5 PM every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from February 7 to March 30, the report said. About 276 flights are expected to be cancelled daily till the runways are reopened.

The closure of the runways has shot up the economic airfares by almost 25-30 percent till the end of March, according to a survey by travel portal Ixigo.

"Ahmedabad-Mumbai has seen a hike in airfares by over 80 percent as compared to last week. Last-minute non-stop and stop-over flights have been impacted the most, recording a price surge of over 200 percent in some cases. Around 33 percent of all flights from Mumbai airport were delayed today and we expect a further increase in cancellations and delays over the next few days," said Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder of Ixigo.

The Bengaluru airport will be shut between 1.30 PM and 4.30 PM from February 14 to 17 for the practice session of the Indian Air Force for the Aero India show, the report said.