Trump’s H-1B visa order: Airfares soar as Indian professionals scramble to return to US

NEw new delhi: With US chairwoman Donald ruff announcing wholesale changes to the H-1B visa programme on fri, many Indian professionals visiting India scrambled to book last-minute flights back to the US before the visa hike order takes effect on Sunday, causing airfares to skyrocket—some by over 200%.Most were left confused by the scope of the Trump administration’s new order hiking H-1B visa application fees, due to discrepancies between statements made by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday and the text of Trump’s executive order released on the same day. H-1B visa holders were also unsure if the $100,000 payment applied to renewal petitions, which are made to extend the visa for an additional three years.Airlines and travel agencies said they had never seen such a last-minute rush for same- or next-day flights on long routes like India-US. “There has been a notable increase in last-minute bookings to the US since this morning. This increase in bookings for same-day or next-day travel is atypical for a long-haul segment,” a MakeMyTrip spokesman said.Managing partner of D2W Travel & Tourism, an online travel platform, Abhineet Manaktala said there was a “surge in airfares by 200%.” He added, “An economy ticket fare from India to any city in the US on any day after Sunday is around ₹40-45,000 but on Saturday, tickets were ranging from ₹1.15 lakhs to ₹1.75 lakhs.”“People on Saturday have booked flights that were landing at least four hours before the initial deadline so that they are able to clear immigration at the airport without any worry,” Manaktala added.An airline official said that both non-stop and one-stop flights saw huge crowds from major cities like Delhi and Mumbai. “Average economy airfare on an Air India flight to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, for instance, was around ₹1.2 lakh,” he added.Air India saw 30-40% more last-minute bookings (within 24 hours of departure) compared to the usual 10-15% on an average day, while economy class fares for Delhi and Mumbai to JFK airport routes were up 30-40% compared to normal fares for the same destinations, An“This is a lean period for long-haul travel, majorly as it is the end of the summer break and the education institutes resume from the first week of September,” a former directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) official said.In addition to the normal direct and one-stop Gulf routes, the same rush was seen on flights landing in the US via Pacific routes such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok, he said, and added that tickets were sold as high as ₹2.50 lakh for round-trip travel, while under normal conditions they are anywhere between ₹1.60–1.70 lakh.