Dubai: Airfares to popular destinations are up by as much as 15 per cent this summer partly due to runway repairs at Dubai International, according to market experts.
The 80-day runway closure at Dubai International is having a ripple effect on airfares in the region with 26 per cent of capacity taken out one of the world’s busiest airports due to repair work
“We’re expecting a good 10 to 15 per cent increase on the most common routes where the inventory is decent,” said Micky Bhatia, General Manager at Al Futtaim in a phone interview on Thursday.
A number of airlines, including Emirates, have temporarily cut frequencies to many popular destinations due to capacity constraints caused by the runway closures. Some other carriers have shifted select operations to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) and Sharjah International.
The drop in frequencies means there is less available seats during part of the traditionally busy northern hemisphere summer travel period.
“What has happened with the runway project is that we’ve seen prices go up because of the inventory going out of the market,” said Tarique Khatri, Senior Vice President Business Development at travel search engine site Cleartrip.
Emirates is grounding up to 22 aircraft each month from May 1 until July 20, however, has looked to mitigate the drop in capacity by deploying larger aircraft on routes normally served by multiple daily frequencies.
While many UAE and Gulf travellers could prefer to stay home during Ramadan which starts June 28, other expatriates might look to take a summer vacation with school holidays carrying on through June and July.
Bhatia said airfares for airlines operating out of Doha and Abu Dhabi, homes to Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, respectively, are also seeing an increase as passengers look at alternatives to Dubai International.
However, he said destinations in Egypt and Morocco where there is limited competition will see “significant increases.”
Traditional destinations such as London and Kuala Lumpur continue to be popular this summer with strong bookings in the lead up to summer.
Travellers from the UAE are also becoming more sophisticated as they try and avoid steep pricing by planning their trip earlier.
“Forty-six per cent travellers have booked 60 days in advance,” said Khatri.
Prices are likely to remain high until the first week of September due to Eid Al Fitr and school holidays. However, there could be some corrections as capacity returns to normal at Dubai International on July 20 and as airlines introduce larger aircraft on popular routes.
Qatar Airways has announced it will soon launch the Airbus A380 to London while Emirates will launch the superjumbo to Mumbai and the Boeing 777 to Delhi and Hyderabad this summer.
