The Hindu Business Line : As fares fall, people take off

THINGS just got better for domestic air travellers. In a concerted effort to stimulate the market all airlines have come up with highly tempting deals to woo passengers.

Air Sahara has launched the Surprice package, which offers a return ticket on the Delhi-Mumbai sector for as low as Rs 4,444 and a return ticket on the Delhi-Chennai sector for Rs 6,666 provided the booking is made a month before travel.

And Jet Airways has announced the Super Apex Monsoon fares and Indian Airlines (IA) has its D-28 packages.

Besides, Jet Airways has also announced the Special Monsoon point-to-point economy class fares and return excursion fares which are available on 56 and 26 sectors respectively. And IA has its own metro-non-metro scheme.

A passenger availing himself of the Jet Airways point-to-point economy class fares can travel on the Hyderabad-Delhi-Chandigarh route (or in the return direction) for Rs 9,900 or between the Chennai-Delhi-Patna sector (or in the return direction) for Rs 11,940. Similarly, a passenger travelling under the special monsoon economy class return excursion fare of Jet Airways on the Chennai-Delhi-Varanasi can fly for Rs 22,100.

Under this scheme, the Hyderabad-Delhi-Jammu sector (or return) can be covered for Rs 18,200.

In addition, the country's only low-cost airline, Air Deccan, which hopes to launch services between the metro sectors by mid-August, has literally set the Indian skies on fire by offering a one-way fare between metro cities which starts as low as Rs 700.

An analysis of the various packages on offer shows that apart from attempting to get upper-class rail passengers on board, the airlines are also trying to create a space for themselves.

Thus, the state-owned IA has come out with the metro-non-metro package, which offers a one-way non-metro flight for Rs 1,200, when taken with a metro flight.

Besides, the airline is also offering the metro-non metro scheme on the lower rate Advance purchase, or Apex, fares.

The IA scheme is available on 224 metro-non-metro combinations thereby offering greater options of travel to passengers.

The choice is now with the passengers. Either they can spend days on a train, travelling from Bangalore to Chandigarh or complete the journey in a few hours, paying a low Rs 11,530 or Rs 9,580 depending on when they book their tickets with IA.

For example, if a passenger books the ticket at least one week before the date of travel, then the fare for a one-way journey on this sector would be Rs 9,580.

Similarly, a passenger travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Kolkata via Bangalore can fly for fares varying from Rs 9,630 to Rs 12,090 depending on how early the ticket is booked.

The normal combination fare on this sector charged by IA is Rs 15,420.

However, unlike the IA Jet Airways schemes which are time bound, the Surprice package of Air Sahara comes without any closing date.

"The scheme is here to stay. However, there could be a shift in fares every season and this shift could either be upwards or even downwards. But this scheme is not gimmickry," says Mr Rono J. Dutta, Air Sahara's new President.

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