High airfares put expat travellers in a fix

Skyrocketing airfares to various destinations in India have been hitting hard on the expatriates who have no option but to go home either after losing jobs or closing businesses due to mounting overheads.

This is due to the limited options that the carriers are offering and monopolistic fares during the air bubble arrangement.

A one-way ticket on a budget airline, if booked a few days earlier, would cost around RO 150 which is very high if compared with the airfare during pre-COVID days.

“I wanted to fly home from Muscat to Kochi but the fares are too high to afford and I am planning to postpone my journey further,” Aboobacker Sidhiq, an expat salesperson in Muscat, heading home on final exit told the Observer.

According to the latest reports, the modified air bubble agreement between Oman and India would continue until January 31, and only Air India, Air India Express, Oman Air, and SalamAir are allowed to operate on 6,000 seats allowed on either side. The two other carriers, which used to fly direct, Indigo and GoAir are not allowed to operate.

The ban applies to all scheduled international flights, international cargo operations while DGCA-approved international flights will still be allowed to fly.

Yet another impact of sudden fare variation after the air bubble agreement came into force by end of November 2020 was on the corporates who have initially budgeted the airfare costs at the prevailing trends.

They have also succumbed financially to booking the tickets apart from the cost of RT- PCR mandatory guidelines which are paid.

“Yet another impact of high airfare is seen on the projects which were stalled and later reopened. We called back our employees who were sent back to complete these projects, but now we have to bear the cost of two separate tickets as those airlines on which we booked ceased operations,” a representative of a leading corporate entity said.

“The ticket costs are retained in credit by the passengers and families who have postponed their journey, they do not have the option to reutilise them from the same airline, since flights are not operational yet,” another corporate said.