Diwali, Chhath Puja 2022: Flight airfare from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata sees MASSIVE hike

The airfare hike on the flights to Patna from Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai comes as a result of the high influx of passengers and the completely filled bookings of the trains of Indian Railways.

Image for representation

The cost of flying from Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata to Patna has increased more than three times over off-peak season costs in advance of the holiday season. Considering the high influx of passengers during Chhath Puja and Diwali, the price hike can be a huge problem for passengers. On October 22, a flight from Delhi to Patna cost Rs 14,000, while a similar travel from Mumbai to Patna cost Rs 20,000. The current fare between these two locations and Patna is greater than the current fare of Rs 11,000 between Delhi and Sharjah. Currently, a ticket from Delhi to Bangkok costs Rs. 10,500, flights from Kolkata to Patna now cost Rs 10,500.

The airline companies during the peak season were taking advantage of the flexible fare. The experts believe that the spike may continue. The air tickets from other cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, and others have also increased.

One of the biggest reasons for the spikes in airfare is the unavailability of train tickets. The waiting lists in trains are very high, and even Tatkal tickets are not available.

Meanwhile, Northern railway has decided to run 32 additional mail and express trains bound to Patna, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Jay Nagar, Kishanganj, Katihar, Barauni (Begusarai) to provide some relief to the passengers. The officials are claiming to run a total of 211 trains till Chatth Puja. The trains will start from Jammu, Amritser, Ferozepur, Delhi, Bhiwani, and Pathankot.

This adds to the Indian Railways' previous announcement of running the Reserved Festival Special Rajdhani Express train between New Delhi and Patna starting soon. The annoucement from the organisation came on 17 October 2022. In line with this, Railways recently announced that the Reserved Festival Special Rajdhani Express train between New Delhi and Patna would be starting soon. The new service is anticipated to relieve the extra passenger rush during holidays like Chhath Puja and Diwali.

With inputs from IANS