Chennai: Airfares to various destinations from Chennai sharply rose to the skies as many people wishing to visit their native places or families for the festival made a beeline to the Meenambakkam airport after exhausting other options like trains, buses, taxis and even private vehicles.
The airport that normally has a footfall of 35,000 to 40,000 passengers saw more than 50,000 people rushing to grab an available seat in any of the airlines that operated flights to their destinations without bothering about the ticket charges.
As a result, a ticket to New Delhi that would usually be between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 depending on the season and rush, touched RS 18,000 on Saturday, with most people travelling to various destinations to celebrate Deepavali, falling on Monday, with their loved ones.
Tickets in flights to Kolkata that would go for various rates between Rs 6,500 in normal times went for Rs 15,000 and Rs 17,000, recording an increase of more than two times. It was also the case with flights to Bhubaneswar that rose to the Rs 11,000 to Rs 13,000 range from the usual Rs 6000.
Flights to the neighbouring State of Kerala too were in high demand as the price of tickets to Kochi rose to Rs 9,000 from Rs 3,500 and to Thiruvananthapuram from Rs 5000 to a whopping Rs 12,000 to Rs 21,000.
Within the State, too, tickets to Madurai were sold for Rs 12,000 (normal rate Rs 4,200), to Trichy for Rs 11,500 (normal rate 3,500), Thoothukudi Rs 9,500 to Rs 11,500 (normal Rs 4,500) and Coimbatore Rs 11,000 (normal Rs 3,500).
However, there was mad scramble for the tickets, despite their exorbitant rates, since most people and families were keen on making the travel come what may.
Aviation authorities said that the high rates were only due to the last minute bookings and that those who had planned their travel in advance and booked tickets ahead of time would have paid the normal rates or something just above that.
Even as the festival crowd was thronging the airport, the highways leading to various places in the State were also clogged as people began their journeys in private vehicles, apart from the fleets of private and government buses, in the morning hours itself.
Since a trip to Kanyakumari, the farthest town in the State from Chennai, would take about 14 to 15 hours, those who left Chennai by their cars at 6 am would be able to reach their homes maximum by 9 pm, much ahead of time to celebrate Deepavali eve too with the loved ones.
Envisaging an explosion in road traffic on the highways, the government had made arrangements to speed up clearance at the toll gates, which normally turn into blockades leading to long queues of vehicles, and also to allow free passage for buses by keeping a track open for them.
Restaurants and motels on the highways, too, did brisk business through the day as the passage of vehicles continued all through the day.
