Has demonetisation hit air travel? Jury still out

New Delhi: The Centre’s demonetisation decision has led to a slight dip in the sale of air tickets, a top functionary of a private airline has said, but agreed with the government’s assertion that it is too early to relate the two.

Government sources, meanwhile, said there had been a surge in cash bookings after the demonetisation move but said they would “wait and watch” before commenting on the financial impact of the move on air-travel.

There are preliminary indications that so far there may have been a 10 per cent dip in air-travel bookings, but airlines are watching the situation closely before arriving at a conclusion. “It is too early to say. There is a slight dip in demand but it is not alarming as of now. We will have to see what the impact will be in the coming days,” a top executive of a private airline said.

The cash-surge in bookings was seen after the government had initially allowed the use of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for air-travel bookings, following which the government put out a rider that the tickets sold through this would be non-refundable.

This was to prevent any move by unscrupulous persons to book tickets with the old notes, and cancel them later there by seeking refund from the airlines through payment in new currency.

The first official indications through government data on the effects of demonetisation for air travel will be seen only by the middle of December when aviation regulator DGCA will release the official statistics on air travel for the month of November.