Domestic airlines offer 50% fare discount; AirAsia to join price war in April
New Delhi: With the fare war by low-cost Indian carriers in the now starting lean season comes the news that AirAsia airline will be selling the cheapest air tickets in India when it launches flights by coming April. "I think we are coming very close and March-April should be time when we should begin the India operations," the Malaysia-based airline major AirAsia's chief executive officer tony Fernandes told PTI in Davos. The airline is ready for the launch and is waiting for the Indian Government's approval which they expect soon to come. In Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, Fernandes says that the airline would introduce 'dramatically' low, cheapest fares in the market and take air travel again to the masses.
AirAsia that runs cheap flights in Malaysia, has partnered with Tata group and Arun Bhatia-led Telstra Tradeplace for its low-fare operations in India. Air travel is cheap in Thailand, Indonesia and many other countries. The Tatas are also forming another joint airline venture with Singapore Airlines, but that is expected to be a full service carrier.
Previously, the common man's airline Air Deccan started by Captain Gopinath in August 2003 had earned the reputation for being the first-ever low-cost carrier taking air travel to the doorstep of every Indian, making a dream come true for everyone. Air tickets, which used to cost a fortune, became dirt cheap. Subsequently, competitors like Spicejet, Indigo and Goair arrived on the scene. The impact of the price war on the mainstream domestic Indian airlines was also huge. Air Deccan later became Kingfisher Red after merger into Kingfisher Airlines of Vijay Mallya.
On Thursday, Jet Airways announced a low fare scheme on its low-fare subsidiary Jet Konnect flights. The advance purchase plan is for travel up to April 15. The tickets will be on sale Thursday and Friday. Other low-cost domestic carriers, Spicejet, Indigo and Goair had earlier this week launched a 50% discount on any domestic flight till April 15, triggering the fare war. For a Delhi-Goa flight the fare came down to Rs 3,355, from a spot price of about Rs 11,000, Delhi-Chennai Rs 3,255, Delhi-Mumbai Rs 2,830 (spot price about Rs 10,000) and Delhi-Kolkata also Rs 2,830. Air India too joined the fray, and its sale till Friday is for travel from February 21 to April 14. Their all-inclusive fares start from Rs 1,795 in the promotional scale.
