Flight tickets to Gulf get costlier

Foreign airline companies have hiked ticket rates which many believe would help them to narrow their losses to overcome the COVID-19 induced losses

With the Gulf region slowly opening up to tourists to overcome its COVID-19 battered economies, airfare charges have also skyrocketed for one-day travel to various destinations. Foreign airline companies have hiked ticket rates which many believe would help them to narrow their losses. However the resultant is that genuine flyers planning to return to various Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are feeling the pinch for having to pay excessive rates. Previously several expatriates were forced to book tickets in charter flights at an exorbitant price between ₹2 lakh and ₹4 lakh to return to their jobs. A reason cited for the jacked up prices now is that commercial international passenger flights remain suspended in the country till September 30. The ban on scheduled overseas flights was to end on August 31 after a 17-month gap. At the same time, India has formed air-bubble pacts with around 28 countries. Thus international flights will operate to about 50 cities in September.