Nearly 460,000 domestic travelers took to the skies in India on Saturday as a result of the World Cup final. Comparing this to the low daily numbers throughout the Diwali season, this was the highest total ever recorded.
Industry experts blame this on travelers opting for AC classes on premium trains instead of economy due to the high advance charges imposed by airlines before to Diwali. However, airlines later reportedly reduced the fares in response to the audience’s delight.
“A historic achievement! Mumbai Airport’s new milestone – a single-runway airport serving a record-breaking 1,61,760 passengers in a single day (on November 18),” tweeted Gautam Adani on Saturday, marking the airport’s highest-ever one-day traffic,” Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani tweeted on Sunday.
Following a dull November in which domestic air travel remained low—remarkably low for a holiday season—the upsurge occurred.
A veteran of airlines who wished to remain anonymous was quoted in a news report saying, “Airlines had hiked advance booking fares since September-end for travel during the festive season from late October. That dissuaded a lot of people who decided to book AC class of premium trains as they feared not getting train reservation closer to travel date in the peak season, airlines realised lean travel numbers and then lowered fares. It is always the other way around, lower advance and higher spot fares.”
