Stepping up the price war,
leading low-cost carrier IndiGo has slashed fares by over 50 per cent for tickets bought, at least, 90 days in advance for flights between Delhi and cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Bhubaneshwar and Patna.
The fares range between Rs 3,171 and Rs 4,376 for a one-way flight from Delhi to these destinations. The carrier has even cut its 90-day advance booking fares by over 60 per cent on the Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Jammu and Delhi-Indore routes bringing down the fares to the Rs 2,107-Rs 2,750 range.
Interestingly, the low fares offered by
IndiGo are for travel beyond October 7, traditionally the beginning of the peak season for carriers, when fares generally go up as demand picks up after the July-September lean season.
Industry sources said that IndiGo's strategy stems from the fact that the yet-to-start carrier AirAsia India plans to start its operations in India by October. Rahul Bhatia-promoted IndiGo has been going in for innovate ways to increase its market share to remain at the top slot. It has a novel sales strategy of allowing cus-tomers to buy tickets through credit cards with payment stretched out over equated monthly instalments (EMIs) of two or three months.
IndiGo's chief commercial officer Sanjay Kumar told
Mail Today that the scheme would continue for the next few months. "We will come out with more such offers to attract fliers in the near future," he said.
All airlines except national carrier Air India (AI) have reduced fares on major routes by 15-40 per cent for bookings done a week in advance. In fact, air-lines in collaboration with travel portals are also offering hefty discount on tour packages which include hotel stay in tourist destinations like Kerala, Port Blair, Goa and other places besides metros.
Former AI executive director Jitender Bhargava said, "Airlines will have to bring down fares to com-pete with one another."
Kapil Kaul, South Asia chief executive for Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation expects fares to be soft in the July-September period. "But continuing high-cost environment will leave almost no headroom for lower fares. The second quarter will be heading for higher-than-expected loss and sustainable recovery is not likely in the near term," he said.
IndiGo has toppled Jet to emerge as the market leader with 29.8-per cen share, the highest since its 2006 launch, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Courtesy: Mail Today
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