Train, bus travel see spike on sharp rise in airfares: ixigo

‘The recent air-fare hike due to rising oil prices has driven customers towards trains and buses, which have shown phenomenal growth’ 

With airfares rising sharply by more than 40% in many domestic routes owing to demand-supply mismatch, online travel portal ixigo said it has seen many passengers taking a train or a bus rides to escape high airfares. 

“The recent air-fare hike due to rising oil prices has driven customers towards trains and buses, which have shown phenomenal growth.” Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO & Co-founder,said, 

For road travel time of 5 to 6 hours, a lot of people are preferring a bus ride rather than taking an expensive flight and for longer distances, people, who have time with them are opting for a train journey, he said.

With the increase in bookings, railway ticket bookings have surpassed pre-COVID levels, with almost 25 lakh people buying reserved tickets every day. The Vande Bharat train service will accelerate train travel growth, he opined.

Mr Bajpai the overall travel market would have positive growth momentum starting August 2022 due to utility-driven travel, pent-up demand translating into monsoon travel; and early advent of festivals in calendar year 22. 

“The current economic crisis in Sri Lanka can also sway travellers to look at other preferred tourist destinations like India, possibly boosting inbound travel this year,” he added. 

According to him the entry of new airlines would stimulate demand in the post the pandemic time.