Eid Al Fitr 2023 in UAE: Airfares set to drop as airlines announce new flights

Airfares will come down from their peaks during the upcoming Eid Al Fitr holidays, say experts, as UAE airlines increase flight frequencies to major cities across many busy destinations.

Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates on Tuesday announced that it would add 38 additional flights this week across six cities in order to meet demand on the occasion of the festival. The airline will operate additional flights to Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Madinah, Kuwait and Beirut as more than 110,000 passengers are set to board its services during Eid Al Fitr.

A large number of residents will travel outbound to their home countries as well to celebrate the vacation, while a number of foreigners will fly down to the UAE to celebrate the festival here in the country, resulting in a big increase in both inbound and outbound passenger traffic.

Earlier, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia Abu Dhabi also announced flights to India’s Kolkata in order to meet growing demand.

Atish Thapa, head of business and marketing, Cleartrip, said this is a classic case of demand and supply.

“As a result of these additional [services], there is some relaxation [with] airfares, but mostly it caters to the demand. New flights will increase availability of inventory at a slightly lower price, but higher than the usual Eid fares. Additional flights will ease out some of the pressure on the fares but it won’t be significantly lower,” he said.

Avinash Adnani, managing director of Pluto Travels, said increased numbers of flights, such as those announced by Emirates, will help bring down airfares from their peak levels during the upcoming Eid holidays o more realistic and affordable levels, allowing residents to travel to see their families and loved-ones.

“During Eid, airfares see a big spike, but these new additional flights will definitely benefit regional travellers. For example, instead of airfares jumping from Dh2,000 to Dh4,000 during Eid, air ticket costs will come down to Dh2,400 to Dh2,800.

However, it is not that [the] air ticket price will drop from Dh2,000 to Dh1,500,” he said, stressing that these new flights will cater to the extra demand during Eid which airlines are not able to accommodate in their current capacities.

“These new additional flights will allow UAE residents to travel at affordable rates and meet their loved ones. People will not pay Dh4,000 for [a] ticket which costs Dh2,000, but they will be willing to spend Dh2,400 [to] Dh2,800, or in that range, on such occasions,” added Adnani.

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• Life and Living
• UAE