Northeast exodus: Air fares to Kolkata, Guwahati up

Bangalore: Increased airfares have forced several north-easterners to stay back in the city as tickets to Kolkata, Guwahati and even Bhubaneshwar from Bangalore have shot up.

Kala, who owns a travel agency in the city, said that she has seen an increase in the number of enquiries coming in for flights to these destinations.

"Many people call to enquire about flying costs to leave the city, but don't buy tickets because they have become so expensive and unaffordable," she said.

Increased airfares have forced several northeast Indians to stay back in Bangalore as tickets to Kolkata, Guwahati and even Bhubaneshwar have shot up.

Tickets on even the low cost airlines have shot up, she said and added, "Tickets that used to cost Rs 7,500 are now costing Rs 16,000 or 17,000."

"Now that even train tickets are running out, people are just choosing to stay put instead," she remarked. Deepu Asheibam, a student from Imphal who booked a flight ticket from Bangalore to Imphal for Rs 20,000 considers himself lucky.

"If I had waited a little longer, I was not even sure that I would have got a ticket at all," said Deepu.

Travel agents in the city also observed that it is not just the airfares to the northeastern cities that have increased.

Tickets to Chennai and Hyderabad are also costing almost double, they said. Agents attributed this to the fact that many people are flying to their hometown via different cities.

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