46% Indians likely to cancel summer plans as Ukraine crisis pushes up airfares, survey finds

Conflict has come as a dampener for those who were ready with packed bags after Covid restrictions eased; most are now looking for alternate modes of travel.

Travellers wearing protective masks arrive at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata | Representational image | Photographer: Arco Dato | Bloomberg

New Delhi: Forty-six per cent of Indians may cancel their travel plans by air, a survey has found, after the Russia-Ukraine conflict pushed up crude oil prices. With oil prices hitting USD 120 per barrel — and likely to climb higher — there has been a sharp increase of 30 to 60 per cent in domestic or international airfares, the survey noted.

Those who would still like to travel are looking at land and sea routes, survey agency LocalCircles reported.

India’s domestic aviation industry has been severely affected during the course of the pandemic in the last 2 years. Most people stayed home through fresh waves of the pandemic as the government continued to delay opening up airspace for international travel.

An earlier LocalCircles survey on 23 February, based on over 20,000 respondents from 321 districts in the country, had indicated that 59 per cent of consumers were planning to travel during March-May after the government eased restrictions.

But in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Circles went back to the citizenry to find out how rising airfares had impacted their plans. It received 10,389 responses from consumers located in over 301 districts of the country. Sixty-two per cent respondents were men while 38 per cent were women. Forty-nine per cent respondents were from tier 1 cities, 34 per cent from tier 2 and 17 per cent from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

46% likely to either drop plans or take alternate mode of travel

Among the respondents planning to travel this summer by flight, 46 per cent were likely to either drop plans or take an alternate mode of transportation — 32 per cent were looking at other modes, while 14 per cent will ditch their plans completely. The survey found only 14 per cent, who had booked their tickets for March-May before airfares increased, would travel as scheduled. While 26 per cent are likely to book soon despite the increase in prices, 14 per cent will postpone their plans.

With crude oil prices unlikely to retreat soon, chances are airlines could see a drop of almost 40 to 50 per cent in their revenues this summer.