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The Air India pilots' strike has come as a double whammy for air travellers.
The strike has not only disrupted AI's scheduled operations but is also seeing fares on private airlines shoot up 50 per cent.
Air India cancelled 24 of the 320 daily flights it operates with services from Mumbai and Delhi being worst affected.
However, sources claimed that the actual number was much higher.
On Wednesday, a Delhi-Mumbai ticket on low-cost airline IndiGo stood at Rs 7,173 compared with the normal range of Rs 3,000-4,000. SpiceJet's fares on Delhi-Mumbai route ranged from Rs 5,774 to Rs 8,573. A ticket on the airline's 6 p.m. Delhi-Mumbai flight was being quoted for as much as Rs 15,572.
Full service-carriers were not far behind to cash in on the opportunity. A ticket on Kingfisher's Mumbai-Delhi flight cost Rs 8,798 while on Jet Airways it was Rs 6,695 going up to Rs 8,000-9,000.
SpiceJet, however, denied it had hiked fares. “SpiceJet teams across all airports have been asked to accept and accommodate requests from Air India in this regard,” it said in a statement
Air India offered some relief for the passengers by deciding not to levy any cancellation or refund fee on the disrupted flights.
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