Mumbai: The first long weekend of the year is here, with Republic Day falling on a Monday, opening an opportunity for a short getaway.Demand for air travel from metros typically spikes around long weekends, and though the Mumbai region got its second airport last month, it is too early to see a perceptible effect on the fares. But one change has set in: Earlier, booking only a few days in advance meant seats on flights with convenient departure timings were all gone. With the Navi Mumbai airport open only from 8am to 8pm currently, you will get flights with decent timings, though the convenience comes at a cost.For instance, for a to-and-fro trip between Mumbai and Delhi on January 23 and 26, the cheapest fare puts you on a flight that departs Mumbai only at 6.10pm on Friday. The cheapest return flight departs Delhi at 4am. Booking this Rs 15,400 return trip would mean losing two days. But if you go to Navi Mumbai airport instead, you can get a 10.55am Friday departure, but it will cost Rs 15,400 for a one-way trip; with the return included, the fare goes up to Rs 21,000. Ideally, for long weekends, travellers would love to get a morning departure for the outbound and an evening departure for the return trip. But flights with this combination of timings are all gone.“Based on internal booking trends, we recorded a nearly 20% increase in bookings for the Jan 26 long weekend compared to a regular Jan weekend, with travellers planning earlier and opting for structured itineraries that fit into tighter work schedules,” said Karan Agarwal from Cox & Kings. He added that domestic travel continues to lead long-weekend demand, contributing to approximately two-thirds of total bookings.Manjari Singal from Cleartrip said: “We saw strong growth in bookings during the New Year 2025, and that growth momentum carried into the Republic Day long weekend. Early trends in 2026 show bookings on Cleartrip already exceeding both last year’s NYE and Republic Day periods, signalling a clear shift towards short breaks and stay-led trips. With airfares remaining steady and hotel bookings growing nearly three times year-on-year, travel demand continues to centre around key hubs.“The demand, as usual, is for both leisure and religious destinations. The cheapest return fare on flights from Mumbai to airports such as Ayodhya, Gaya and Triupati started around Rs 25,000.
