IndiGo Airfare Hike
Lot of people are getting upset because IndiGo flight tickets are getting super expensive, especially when it’s a holiday or a big event like the Mahakumbh. Recently, the boss of IndiGo, Pieter Elbers, talked about this. He basically said that when a lot more people want to fly at the same time, their computer system automatically makes the prices go up. It’s not like they’re trying to trick people or unfairly charge them all the time, but it just happens sometimes because of how many seats are available compared to how many people want to book them.
But, he also pointed out something important. He said that instead of just focusing on those expensive tickets, we should really look at how IndiGo handled the huge number of people wanting to go to Prayagraj (that’s where the Mahakumbh was). He said they actually doubled the number of flights they were running to Prayagraj to help everyone get there. So, even though some tickets might have gotten pricey because of high demand, they also made a big effort to offer way more flights overall.
So the IndiGo CEO, Pieter Elbers, wants us to think about the bigger picture of getting people to Prayagraj. He’s saying, “Hey, let’s see what we all managed to do together to help everyone travel there.”
He then gives us some numbers to show just how many people they helped. He mentions that they flew close to a thousand flights in total. And each of those planes has about 230 seats. If you count all those seats going to Prayagraj and coming back, it adds up to around five lakh passengers – that’s 500,000 people!
So, what he’s trying to say is that even if some tickets got expensive, IndiGo also put in a huge effort by running tons of flights and carrying a massive number of people to where they needed to go. He wants us to remember that big achievement of helping so many travelers.
The IndiGo boss, Pieter Elbers, also gave a warning. He said that if everyone keeps demanding really cheap flight tickets without thinking about how much it costs the airlines to actually run the planes, then the airlines might not be able to survive in the long run. Think of it like asking a shop to sell everything for super cheap – eventually, they won’t have enough money to keep the lights on and the doors open.
He was also talking about the news that the government has created a special team called ‘Air Sewa’ to listen to passengers who are complaining about high ticket prices. Elbers said that having such a team is a good idea. However, he also pointed out that the airline business in India is super competitive, maybe even the most competitive in the whole world. What that means is that generally, the price of flight tickets in India is already very low compared to other countries because so many different airlines are trying to attract customers. So, while it’s good to listen to complaints, we also need to remember that airlines have costs to cover, and the prices are often quite reasonable already because of all the competition.
The IndiGo boss basically said that the price of flight tickets has to be connected to how much it costs the airline to run its business. If they charge too little for tickets and it costs them much more to fly the planes, pay for fuel, staff, and everything else, then the airline will eventually go broke and won’t be able to fly anymore. It’s like saying a shop needs to sell things for at least what it costs them to buy those things, otherwise, they can’t stay open.