Flights to Mumbai are around Dh2,000, Bengaluru Dh2,360 and New Delhi Dh2,110.Tickets to Kerala have climbed to between Dh2,940 (Kochi) and Dh3,300 (Thiruvananthapuram), while fares to Mangalore are reaching an eye-watering Dh4,080.Within the GCC, fares remain relatively affordable, with Riyadh at around Dh875 and Bahrain and Muscat both at around Dh1,100.Long-haul routes are also seeing steep pricing. Flights to London are about Dh3,840, to Edinburgh Dh4,040, and to Zurich Dh3,760. Milan is lower at Dh2,390, while Istanbul stands at Dh2,610 and Athens at Dh3,730.

Fares to Almaty and Tbilisi are around Dh2,330, while the fare to New York is nearing Dh4,760.Travel agents say these fares are “considerably higher” than the peaks seen in January and February.Travel demand, soaring jet fuel costs could keep airfares high for months“Demand is high, but supply has not been fully reinstated,” said Raheesh Babu, COO of Musafir.com. “IndiGo was operating around 40 daily flights earlier; now it has about 11. Slots are being opened, but very slowly.”He added: “Fares are Dh2,000 and above.

Some passengers are also taking connecting flights via Bangalore and Mumbai – that’s how strong the demand is. The bottom line is that there is no choice but to book early.”Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.Fuel crisis adds pressureThe surge in fares is also being driven by a broader energy crunch. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz continued to keep oil markets volatile and jet fuel prices expensive.“Aviation as the patient is walking, but the storm just changed the forecast,” said Linus Benjamin Bauer, Founder & Global Managing Partner of BAA and Partners told Gulf News in an earlier interview.“Structurally recovered, geopolitically stress tested… The demand engine is intact.

The route architecture is under duress. I'd call this ‘recovery interrupted.’”He said that the conflict has more than doubled kerosene prices, “blowing up every airline’s cost assumption”, while rerouting flights and airspace closures continue to add billions in unplanned expenses.Middle East aviation faces turbulent months ahead as war, fuel shocks test airlinesFlights are returning, but slowlyAirlines are gradually restoring services, particularly to leisure destinations, but capacity remains below pre-conflict levels.“Turkish and European carriers may resume more fully by early May, with full capacity around May 5,” Babu said.

“UAE carriers like Emirates and Air Arabia are also scaling up.”Safeer Mahmood, General Manager of Smart Travels Group, said the recovery remains uneven.“Things had been improving over the last two days, but tensions in the region have picked up again today,” he said. “So, we cannot say that regular travel has fully resumed, but airlines are operating a good number of flights, especially UAE carriers.”He pointed to Air Arabia’s planned expansion into destinations such as Baku, Almaty, Tbilisi, Tashkent and Yerevan as a sign that leisure travel is returning.With Eid demand building, inbound travel rising and airline capacity still constrained, agents say elevated fares are likely to continue in the coming months.For travellers, the advice is clear: book early — or be prepared to pay significantly more.