Jet, set, weddings: Why Indian airlines are on a high this wedding season

It’s peak wedding season in India and airlines and operators of charter jets are rejoicing with the honeymooners.

India’s peak wedding season spans from November to March, aligning with a higher number of dates deemed auspicious for matrimonial alliances. For airlines operating in India, that’s expected to translate to more families, wedding guests and newly wedded couples taking to the skies.

On 17 November, a Sunday, India’s daily air passenger traffic climbed to a record 505,412, per data from India’s ministry of civil aviation, although this is also attributed to the ongoing festive season. The previous record of about 499,000 passengers was reached a couple of days earlier, on 15 November.

“Tier 2 cities are powering the wedding season this year,” said Aloke Bajpai, group chief executive, ixigo, a digital travel and hotels booking platform run by Le Travenues Technology Ltd. “Travel (bookings) to tier 2 and 3 cities for November and December have seen a significant rise, with Varanasi bookings up by an impressive 265% and Gorakhpur by 109%. Amritsar, Chandigarh and Patna have also recorded an increase of over 70% in flight bookings.”

According to ixigo, more people are flying to small towns like Varanasi owing to a combination of factors: people travelling to their hometowns for weddings and others for religious tourism.

Flight bookings to major metro hubs such as Delhi and Mumbai as well as leisure destinations such as Srinagar, Jaipur, and Goa are also seeing a strong 70-80% year-on-year increase for November-December, Bajpai said.

International destinations are also in demand, as in any wedding season.

“Overseas honeymoon bookings to destinations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East have risen by 2x, marking this wedding season as one of the most dynamic and high-demand periods yet,” said Rikant Pittie, co-founder of EaseMyTrip, another leading travel booking platform.

“Indians are increasingly making bookings for honeymoon travel, showcasing a shift in preferences toward destinations like Thailand, the Andaman Islands, and Vietnam, moving away from traditional spots like the Maldives and Kerala.”

Bajpai too highlighted Southeast Asia and West Asia, or the Middle East, as among the top overseas destinations for Indian honeymooners this season. “... Hotspots like Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur (are) seeing a 120-130% YoY rise in bookings for November and December.”

India typically registers about 10 million weddings every year, per industry estimates. And given the growing fondness for lavish Indian weddings, Prabhudas Lilladher estimates revenue generation of ₹4.25 trillion from around 3.5 million weddings in just November to mid-December this year.

A wedding season boost

India’s airline industry hopes the wedding season will make up for lower-than-anticipated flight bookings during Diwali in October.

“We have increasingly seen a lot of demand for travel during the marriage season, and this year seems to be similar in terms of demand,” said a senior executive at Tata Group’s Air India Express, declining to be identified. “The booking trend is equally encouraging and we might see a strong third quarter supported by weddings.”

Per India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, domestic air traffic increased 4.7% on-year to 92.3 million in the first half of 2024 (January-July). The Centre for Aviation, or CAPA, a leading aviation industry research and advisory firm, expects India’s domestic air trafficin 2024to increase by 6-8% to 162-165 million.

So far this wedding season, EaseMyTrip, operated by Easy Trip Planners Ltd, is seeing a 15% overall increase in travel bookings as compared with last year’s.

While Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar, Jaipur and Goa are witnessing a 40% year-on-year growth in bookings, tier 2 cities such as Varanasi and Gorakhpur are recording 90% and 75% increases, respectively, said Pittie, EaseMyTrip’s co-founded.

As per ixigo data, Varanasi has recorded the highest jump in flight bookings so far for November-December, with a year-on-year surge of 265%, followed by Gorakhpur with a jump of 109%.

Among international destinations, ixigo has registered a 270% year-on-year increase in flight bookings for Phuket in Thailand for November-December this year, followed by a 244% jump for Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and 205% rise for Kuwait.

Private jets for the grand Indian wedding

For uber-wealthy Indian families with more lavish budgets, charter planes make for a grand wedding accessory.

“For weddings, the demand is for business jets to fly the immediate family and VIP guests and bigger planes (an ATR or other aircraft) to fly (other) people,” said Santosh Sharma, founder of Bookmyjet, an online platform for booking business jets.

While a charter jet can seat 4-20 passengers, an ATR aircraft can carry fly 80 passengers. The charter cost depends on the type of aircraft—from ₹1.50 lakh per hour and going up to ₹30 lakh per hour for larger jets.

“We are seeing demand from smaller cities like Indore, Rajkot, Raipur and also Kolkata, with flights going into Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur,” said Sharma, adding that the company was seeing an interest in business jets also from foreigners and Indian diaspora families planning destination weddings in India.

“People from Middle East are getting married in India and they are booking flights from Delhi and Mumbai to marriage destinations to ferry their guests.”