With Diwali a week away, airlines, luxury buses triple Mumbai-Goa and Delhi-Goa fares

MUMBAI: With the long Diwali weekend days away, airlines have hiked flight ticket fares on several domestic routes.

The ticket rates from 21-27 October have increased multi-fold and in some cases the rates are more than four times the regular (non festive/weekend) rates. Fares are further expected to shoot up in the coming days.

Earlier in August this year, the Union Civil Aviation ministry lifted limits imposed on domestic airfares, allowing airlines to engage in predator pricing.

According to the Times of India, the fare on the Mumbai-Goa route (as on Sunday morning) is Rs 9,000 for travel on October 25, a day before Bhai Dooj.

The regular fare is around Rs 3,500. On the day of Bhai Dooj, a single flight ticket from Ahmedabad to Goa is Rs 11,400, as compared to the usual fare of around Rs 5,000.

Flights tickets from Kolkata are also being sold at a premium, with tickets costing nearly Rs 10,000 on the days leading up to Diwali. The normal rate is around Rs 6,500.

The updated flight ticket fares (as of Sunday morning) are below:

Delhi-Goa air ticket fares: The air ticket fare for non-stop Delhi-Goa flight ranges between Rs 16,000- Rs 17,000. While Air Asia round trip non-stop flight costs as much as Rs 16,304, while IndiGo costs around Rs 16,329.

Mumbai-Goa air ticket fares: The prices of Mumbai-Goa flights ranges between Rs 9,228-16,000 for a round trip.

Flight prices out of Goa for the end of October have also doubled on most routes and trains are all running full.

Travel agents claim there are no train tickets available between Mumbai to Goa or Goa to Mumbai during the entire Diwali weekend, till the end of this month.

Tourist bus fares too have skyrocketed, with the price of a single ticket having touched Rs 2,700-Rs 3,700 for a sleeper air-conditioned luxury bus on the Goa-Mumbai route as also the Goa-Pune route on October 30 and 31.

Similarly, a ticket for a luxury bus to Bengaluru costs up to Rs 4,000 already, with non-AC tickets going at Rs 1,800.

As the festival weekend nears, the prices are expected to further skyrocket and last minute travelers will have to pay nearly Rs 8000 to Rs 9000 even for luxury bus fares, while airline fares could go as high as Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 even for a one way ticket.