After 12/6, demand for Air India’s 787s crashes
NEW DELHI: Planning an almost last-minute trip to Europe, Delhi-based financial consultant Priya Singh was in for a surprise when she checked return for fares for Delhi-Amsterdam (June 30) and Amsterdam-Delhi (July 6) on a leading online travel agency (OTA). Air India‘s non-stop option on both sectors was costing Rs 66,323 – which was much less than Rs 87,153 on KLM, the only airline operating direct flight on this sector – and comparable to the one-stop options of carriers like Etihad, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa. “I wondered why this was happening and then found the plausible reason: AI equipment listed was Boeing 787. I will opt for one of the one-stops,” she said.Multiple travel agents confirmed Air India is seeing lower demand for its B787s after the AI 171 crash because of which many flights operated on the Maharaja’s Dreamliners are cheaper than non-stops of competing airlines on those routes. Ironically, many of these competing airlines on AI Dreamliner routes – Europe, UK, Far East and Australia – also use the B787 which passengers are ditching the Maharaja for, as of now.Non-stop flights are more expensive than one-stop ones. Some international routes have both non-stop and one-stop options, like Delhi to Paris/London/New York. The non-stop fares are benchmarked with each other and one-stop by one-stops.OTA searches show Delhi-London return fares (June 30 departure and July 6 arrival) are between Rs 54,000 and Rs 74,000 on AI; Rs 85,000-90,000 (check-in bag fares) on British Airways and over Rs 95,000 on Virgin Atlantic. Delhi-Paris return for these dates are about Rs 58,000 on AI and Rs 76,400 on Air France. Fares on flights operated by AI’s other wide bodies, like the North America non-stops that are served by A350 and B777s, have bucked this trend.“There is concern among travellers (over flying AI B787s) and some have changed airlines as well. Safety is the prime concern for passengers and they are weighing the option of taking other airlines,” said Anil Kalsi, Travel Agents federation of India VP, adding, “Demand for travel overall has dropped. Future leisure bookings are on hold due to airspace restrictions that has led to uncertainty and delays across all airlines on routes to and from the west.” Several other travel agents and OTAs confirmed this trend. A detailed multi-nation and multi-agency probe is on into the crash of the Dreamliner operating as AI 171 and what caused the same will be known only after the report is released. Till then everything is conjecture.
