Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir on Tuesday launched a fare war in the skies, offering discounts ranging between 30 and 50 per cent on domestic routes. By late evening all SpiceJet tickets were sold out.
The discounted fares are being introduced by carriers to make air travel more attractive and cheap in the off-peak travel season, given the gloomy market conditions and continuing slowdown. While Air India’s Spring Sale promises to offer ‘up to’ 50 per cent discount on tickets on its entire domestic network, IndiGo and GoAir have announced reduction in fares by 30 to 50 per cent for advance purchase on its website. Air India said its promotional scheme would be up for sale from Wednesday till January 24 and valid for travel between February 21 and April 15. These fares, which begin from as low as Rs.1,357, including taxes, would cover all domestic sectors of the national carrier.
All through Wednesday, one could book a cheap air ticket on quite a number of flights, including those departing during peak morning and evening hours. But such fares were hardly to be found on flights to certain tourist destinations, like Goa.
On the Mumbai-Goa route, flights that land around noon are the most preferred; on the return journey, early morning flights are the most in demand. But on Wednesday, there were no cheap fares for any of these. Attractive rates were to be found only on late-evening flights. The cheapest, all-inclusive fare (available till Wednesday evening) for a one-way Mumbai-Goa flight was around Rs 2,000 for a 6.35pm landing—not a preferred time if one needs to book into a hotel for a holiday. The next cheapest fare was Rs 3,500, for a 5pm landing.
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