As people amid festivities are travelling back to their native places to be with their near and dear ones, bookings for domestic air travel increase in spite of the Covid pandemic scare has inched higher to touch almost 40 percent of 2019 levels. The demand uptick is primarily seen from metros to towns and cities in Eastern India including Kolkata, Patna and Ranchi. This uptick in travel is seen even as five-days long Durga Puja festival is to kick start on October 22, while Diwali is on November 14 this year.

Corporate travel also seems to be picking up higher level, with the most busy route in India such as Delhi-Mumbai commanding a spot fare of Rs. 18000, which is way higher than the maximum price of Rs. 10000 that was fixed by the civil aviation ministry while re-starting air travel in May after a halt due to lockdown.

A spokesman from an online travel agency Yatra.com told a leading business portal that now people are also looking out for leisure besides essential travel and there has been an hike in numbers of booking enquiries. Moreover, people want to know of destinations that can make sure that all essential steps are taken care of. Typically, bookings to places including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Lucknow, Kolkata and Varanasi have seen a sudden surge as travellers visit their native places for a holiday. Domestic air traffic ever since the services restated in May that has halted in the effect of the nationwide lockdown imposed from March 25,  has been going higher at a steady pace. And for the September month seen the sharpest jump of 39 percent month on month, the highest since the lockdown.

IndiGo mulls dedicated freighter services amid surge in cargo transportation

Woman delivers baby on flight from Delhi to Bengaluru, Indigo gives lifetime free ticket