Premium Economy Airfares Surged Much Faster Than Economy Class Between 2019 And 2024: Cirium

The data showed that premium-economy fares soared up to 128.6 per cent on key domestic routes such as Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bengaluru since 2019

Domestic flights in India have seen a major change in the airfare across flight classes in the last five years, data from aviation analytics firm, Cirium, revealed recently. The firm found that airfares for the ‘premium economy’ class on domestic flights surged at a faster rate than the ‘economy’ class.

This indicated that the higher category flight option became much more popular amongst Indians in the last five years. Further, the ‘premium economy’ class emerged as a major revenue generator for airlines, reported Business Standard citing the data.

The data showed that premium-economy fares soared up to 128.6 per cent on key domestic routes such as Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bengaluru since 2019. The economy-class fare increased up to 41.3 per cent on these routes during the period under review.

This indicated a major reversal in trend for the service that airlines earlier used to find difficult to promote. The Delhi-Mumbai route is the busiest route in the country.

Five years earlier, the average fares across both the class were almost identical. The data showed that the average economy fare on the route jumped 12.2 per cent to $92 during March 2019 and March 2024 period. Meanwhile, the average premium economy fare gained 62.5 per cent to $143.

Meanwhile, on the Mumbai-Hyderabad route, the economy and premium economy fares stood at $45 and $49 respectively as of March 2019. By March 2024, the economy fare jumped 33.3 per cent to touch $60 and the premium economy fare increased by 128.6 per cent to touch $112.

Notably, the premium economy was introduced by Vistara in 2014 on its maiden aircraft. The carrier offered complimentary upgrades to economy passengers in the beginning to promote the exclusive offering. With a rise in awareness, the demand for the premium service soared and the carrier capitalised on it by increasing the fares for the option.

Following Vistara, Air India introduced premium economy section on certain domestic flights this month, the report noted.