Abu Dhabi: Malayalis in the Gulf are forced to cancel their vacation plans and bear the excruciating Middle Eastern summer due to the soaring air ticket fares. Although the schools have closed for the summer vacation, expatriates are hesitant to book flights to Kerala. The Israel–Iran crisis is also responsible for the rising air ticket prices.

Both Indian and foreign airline companies have increased their ticket prices by at least 4 – 13 per cent. Direct flights are fully booked, while tickets for connecting flights are expensive. Exorbitant amounts are charged for connection flights for a 16-hour journey in the UAE–Kerala sector, which usually takes only four hours.

The ticket costs between 3,000 and 4,000 dirhams (approximately Rs 70,000 – 93,500) per head from Dubai to Kochi on Air India Express, Indigo, SpiceJet, FlyDubai, and Oman Air as of today. Meanwhile, the fare is 6,340 dirhams from Dubai to Kochi via Mumbai with Air India. Emirates charges 13,871 dirhams per head in this sector. There are no economy class seats available from Abu Dhabi to Kochi, so the customer must pay 9,320 dirhams for a business class seat from Abu Dhabi to Kochi via Colombo. This flight is at least 11 hours long.

Indian airline companies charge up to 13,200 – 15,000 dirhams (Rs 3 lakh) for a family of four to fly to Kerala today and return by August 18. The ticket prices would be double for airlines like Emirates, FlyDubai, and Etihad. As customers visit the websites regularly to check fares, the websites adjust the prices, recognising the demand. Expatriate associations have been demanding that more services or chartered flights be arranged in this sector during the summer vacation to control the soaring prices.

Those who have booked the tickets at least six months ago are able to travel on reasonable price. However, most people are unable to plan the vacation so early in advance, so they fall prey to the unreasonable price hike of airline companies. Many Indian families are forced to pay their savings of two or three years just to purchase air tickets to visit their homeland.   

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