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Ashwini Phadnis

The discounts on offer will not be across-the-board and are likely to vary from flight to flight, depending on the demand.

New Delhi , Jan 12

With school exams not far away, most international tourists having gone back and the lean season setting in, domestic airlines are coming up with new ways to enthuse non-frequent flyers to avail of cheap tickets during February and March.

One of the attempts being made is to offer more reduced rates tickets during the lean season compared to what is on offer at present.

Typically, this would mean that if an airline is offering five seats at the lowest fare - which could be as much as 70 per cent off the regular fare - then the number of seats could be increased to 10 or more.

"An airline seat is a perishable commodity and if it goes empty, it is money lost. Everyone will be trying their best to give that little push to the market to fill up their aircraft," said a full service airline official.

However, the discounts on offer will not be across-the-board and are likely to vary from flight to flight, depending on the demand.

Almost all domestic airlines have installed advance systems that allow them to monitor and control availability of seats at a particular fare level, thereby ensuring that yields do not fall below a certain level.

While officially the airlines are mum on how much more inventory would be available at reduced rates during the lean season, unofficially they do acknowledge that some steps would have to be taken to stimulate the market.

"Airline pricing is sensitive and seasonal. In the peak season, when demand is more, almost everyone offers fewer reduced rate seats and the inverse is correct during the lean season," said an airline CEO.

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