Mumbai:
The swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister of the state, Devendra Fadnavis is expected to bring a large number of supporters from Nagpur, his hometown.
Right on cue, ticket fares have shot up for flights between Nagpur and Mumbai.
According to the travel website makemytrip.com, passengers from Nagpur eager to attend their leader's swearing-in ceremony at Wankhede stadium on Friday evening will have to shell out anywhere between Rs 11,000 to Rs 28,000 for a flight ticket.
For Thursday evening, the fast-depleting tickets' fare ranged from Rs 11,000, offered by Jet Airways, Rs 15,000 by Air India to as much as Rs 28,000 for a one-way ticket (non-stop flights).
In fact, the automated alert system of the site was quick to point out that if the customer had flexible dates, travelling on Saturday (November 1) could help them save as much as 50 per cent.
The ticket fares for Friday morning flights were also inflated, ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000. However, evening fares from Nagpur were no more than Rs 10,000, at the time when the swearing-in ceremony is expected to begin.
From November 1, ticket fares for non-stop flights average Rs 6,000. An airline official said, "The traffic to the city from Nagpur has increased in the last few days. As the demand has increased, so has the cost."
Expert speak"All airlines are aware that people will be flying to the city and have taken advantage of the situation by increasing the price of their tickets. Action against airlines should be taken by the government and DGCA. This should be treated on the same grounds of hoarding/black marketing of tickets to sell at a higher price," said Vipul Saxena, aviation expert.