The Hindu Business Line : Air Deccan drops trunk route fares by 20 per cent

Air Deccan has announced a 20 per cent drop on the fares that it charges on the trunk routes. An airline spokesperson said that the lower fares were already available to the passenger.

The move comes just a day after the three other airlines — Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara — announced a 10 per cent hike in their fares mainly on account of the northward movement in global prices of oil.

However, a passenger flying with the low-cost airline between Delhi-Chennai will pay Rs 4,700 instead of Rs 6,800, which was charged earlier.

A passenger travelling on the same sector with the other airlines and purchasing the ticket at the last moment will be charged in excess of Rs 11,000.

Similarly, on the Delhi-Bangalore sector a passenger with Air Deccan will be charged Rs 5,200 as against Rs 6,600 earlier. An airline spokesman said that the pricing still started at Rs 500 but would now end at the new lower fare levels on the trunk routes.

The airline is to charge Rs 4,200 on the Delhi-Hyderabad as against Rs 5,900 earlier while a passenger on the Delhi-Mumbai sector can travel for Rs 3,400 as against Rs 4,400 which was charged earlier. Besides, Air Deccan will now charge Rs 2,800 on the Bangalore-Mumbai sector as against Rs 3,700 earlier.

The airlines Managing Director, Captain G.R. Gopinath, told Business Line that Deccan had taken the step as the "passenger load-factors were encouraging for the next two months and the cash flow situation was good."

Air Deccan officials said that the airline was offering fares up to 55 per cent lower than other airlines.