Airfares to Ayodhya soar ahead of Ram temple inauguration

Ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on January 22 in Ayodhya, many pilgrims from Bengaluru are making a beeline to visit the temple town in Uttar Pradesh. This is evident as airfares to the town have jumped three times, as per searches on multiple travel platforms, ahead of the inauguration. Ayodhya, along with Varanasi, is the most searched on travel platforms for check-in on January 19, 20, and 21.

Ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on January 22 in Ayodhya, many pilgrims from Bengaluru are making a beeline to visit the temple town in Uttar Pradesh. This is evident as airfares to the town have jumped three times, as per searches on multiple travel platforms, ahead of the inauguration. Ayodhya, along with Varanasi, is the most searched on travel platforms for check-in on January 19, 20, and 21.

At present, there are no direct flights between Bengaluru and Ayodhya. Air India Express direct flights (tri-weekly) are scheduled to start only on January 17. The fares are priced between ₹6,548 and ₹8,799 for travel between January 17 and 22. However, a very limited number of seats are said to be available. The other airline offering flight services to the temple town from Bengaluru is Indigo. However, these are connecting flights with stopovers in Mumbai and Ahmedabad with the travel time ranging from six to nine hours. While fares on these flights for travel on January 16 are between ₹11,558 and ₹13,301, the fares for travel between January 19 and 20 range from ₹22,400 to ₹29,669.

“There has been more than a 100% increase in domestic flight searches week on week for Ayodhya since the launch of the new airport. We are also seeing more than 60% week-on-week increase in train travel searches. In 2023, we saw a surge in demand for cultural and spiritual hubs such as Varanasi and Prayagraj. We expect to see a similar surge for Ayodhya with the temple getting inaugurated,” said Sai Aadesh of GT Holidays Pvt. Ltd.

Kishore P.S., manager, Travel Manager-Holidays (India) Pvt. Ltd. said that airfares have become extremely expensive in the run-up to the temple’s inauguration. “There is very limited connectivity from Bengaluru via flight, only one or two flights would be operating as of now. Given the price, most people are choosing to travel by train. For January 22, I’ve booked tickets for 21 couples,” Mr. Kishore said.

Shankar Hariprasad, a retired bank employee who is travelling to the temple town with his family, said he had been planning to travel to Ayodhya since the date of the inauguration was announced. “While the airfares and accommodation costs rose rapidly, we got for ourselves a decent price since we planned in advance,” he said.

Shobhit Garg, a software developer who is visiting Ayodhya with his friend, said, “The budget went a bit overboard. But coming from a religious background, we looked at this lifetime opportunity and decided to go ahead and travel to Ayodhya.”