With cyclone Remal wreaking havoc caused upending normal life in several parts of West Bengal, airlines catering to Kolkata capitalised on the situation and made the most of the aggravating circumstances on Sunday.
Several people rushed to leave Kolkata before the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in the city announced a 21-hour shutdown due to the calamity.
Kolkata to Chennai flight fares surged by over Rs 79,000
With flyers booking tickets at the last minute, airfares touched the sky with Air India offering the quickest option to Chennai. The airline quoted a whopping Rs 79,403 for a flight of 7 hours and 40 minutes, but one had to travel to Mumbai and then switch to a Chennai-bound flight.
Airlines said most of the seats which were vacant saw sudden demand and were all booked and filled in no time between Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday.
A report by Times of India mentioned that seats on all direct flights from Kolkata to other major cities were booked to capacity and only a few flights of Air India and associate carriers Vistara and Air India Express sold tickets at a sky-rocketing price.
Travellers to Delhi had to pay Rs 40,000
Vistara had limited seats left on its direct flight to Delhi which were booked quickly by passengers for as much fast at Rs 33,458, after which the fare surged to Rs 39,663 on an AI flight.
Some seats which were available on a direct AI flight to Mumbai from Kolkata were being sold for Rs 33,340.
Tickets for Kolkata-Bengaluru direct AI Express flight with a few vacant seats was sold for Rs 19,883.
For the Kolkata-Guwahati (considered to be one of the shortest distance) direct flight, AI had vacant seats priced at Rs 20,193.
There was no option available to fly to Bagdogra. Also, there was not a single viable flight to Hyderabad by 7:30 pm on Sunday.
Mad rush at Kolkata airport
The report mentioned that between midnight (Saturday) and 12.16 pm (Sunday), the Kolkata airport hosted 12,833 passengers who left on 71 flights and 10,283 who flew in on 63 aircraft.
Airport officials said Kolkata airport witnessed a rare sight with people queuing up before booths at the departure level at a time when most air tickets are booked online. “When people reached the counter, they were either shocked at the fare or learnt that there was no flight option,” the report quoted an official as saying.
394 flights, including 54 international ones, cancelled
As a measure of caution given cyclone Remal, the authorities at the Kolkata airport had decided to shut flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon to 9 am on Monday.
The airport shutdown led to the cancellation of 394 flights, including 54 international ones, affecting 63,000 passengers.
Most passengers unaware of the closure had already reached the airport and were then turned away.
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Kolkata-Chennai flight fare surged past Rs 79k, Delhi cost 40k ahead of 21-hour airport closure
