The trend of advance bookings for travel between the UAE and India is back with a bang, with travellers rushing to firm up their trips with bookings as early as three months and beyond, travel industry executives said.
Surging air fares and flight restrictions at many airports in the West for onward journeys are the major factors for pushing up advance travel bookings.
“With flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, among other airports in the region, going chock-a-block almost daily and airfares surging even faster, travellers have no choice but to book their seats much in advance,” Amit Udani, executive director of Fly Aerolink Travel, a leading Mumbai-based travel and tour services firm, told Arabian Business.
“Three months are the bare minimum we are seeing of late for advance bookings in the India-UAE sector,” Udani said.
Udani said airfares on even budget airlines such as IndiGo for travel to Dubai from Mumbai cost around $438 to $564 (INR 35,000-45,000) for a one-way trip – double that of the early part of this year.
“The fares are even higher for UAE airlines such as Emirates as they carry mostly transit passengers to long-distance destinations,” he said.
Senior executives at online travel services firms also confirmed the trend of advance bookings.
“The trend of [bookings much in advance] is returning to that of pre-pandemic levels now,” Atish Thapa, head of business – Middle East at Cleartrip, the leading online travel agency in UAE, told Arabian Business.
“Close to 70 percent of travellers now reserve their air tickets well in advance [in theUAE-India sector], with a share of 60-40 between one-way and round trips,” Thapa said.
The rush for advance bookings in the UAE sector is also because of a surge in leisure travel to the Gulf country.
“Leisure Travel – for 2-6 days stay – between India and the UAE has grown by 83 percent during January-June 2022 period over the same year-ago period,” Thapa said.
Travel firm executives said the highest period of advance bookings are seen for travel to transit hubs such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi for onward travel to the UK, Europe and the US because of the chaos at several airports there.
Udani said about 70 percent of travellers to Dubai and Abu Dhabi from various Indian cities are transit passengers.
The continuing flight restrictions at London’s Heathrow and many airports in Europe due to a host of factors – mainly due to shortage of staff – amid the surge for air travel demand has made travellers wary and rushing to secure their tickets months in advance.
A latest report said airlines in the Middle East were set to experience a shortage of pilots in the next ten years.
The report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman said globally the aviation sector would be short by 80,000 pilots by 2032, and that the Middle East could be one of the first regions to be affected.
The consulting firm expects the Middle East to be the region affected soonest by the shortage outside of North America, driven by a projected sharp increase in air travel demand over the next few years, new players entering the market and big tourism developments happening in the region.
According to the International Air Travel Association, passenger volume in the Middle East is projected to reach 98 percent of 2019 levels by 2024, before it exceeds pre-pandemic figures by 2025.
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