SpiceJet  will launch its regional operations from September 21 with fares at least 10-30% lower than Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, and Air India. Wth Hyderabad as a base for its regional operations, the LCC plans to connect Tier-II and -III cities to nearest metros through its regional service. The first flight will be from Hyderabad to Tirupati and will operate twice daily as per a report in ET by Manisha Singhal

"In the first week of our bookings we are selling tickets which are 10-30% cheaper than Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways. In the next week we are selling about 25% cheaper," said Samyukth Sridharan, chief commercial officer, Spicejet. The airlines is targeting tickets that are at least 10% lower than what the market if offering. On an average the fares for flights operating out of Hyderabad are priced at 2,499 and from other cities the fares will be 1,999.

The airline has priced its Hyderabad-Tirupati flights 300 lower than Kingfisher and 1,200 lower than Jet Airways. On Hyderabad-Pune route, SpiceJet has priced tickets at 2,552. On the same route, IndiGo's flights are priced at 2,652 and low-cost Kingfisher Red sells tickets at 4,086. SpiceJet expects to get loads of about 70% on routes where services already exist, but will have to wait for some of the newer routes it is launching, such as Hyderabad-Mangalore or Hyderbad-Aurangabad to develop.

"We are operating on routes that traditionally have high traffic. As far as routes like Tirupati and Aurangabad are concerned we are relying on the heavy pilgrim traffic," Sridharan said. As a first dedicated low-fare airline, SpiceJet will change the dynamics of pricing on the regional routes, said experts. The entry of SpiceJet with cheaper tickets into the regional routes will put pressure on established players in the regional space such as Jet and Kingfisher to lower fares. The competition will further pinch airlines' profit margins. SpiceJet posted a loss of 72 crore for the first quarter of this fiscal.