Comments
A price war is breaking out in the Indian skies, again.
According to SpiceJet, the response to its festival offer of discounted tickets on select sectors, domestic and international, was so overwhelming that late on Friday night it extended the sale by 24 hours.
But, unlike earlier in the year, this time the discount is only on a few sectors and for travel for a limited period. Moreover, the discounted fares have not been publicised as widely as those offered by the airline in January. At that time, it offered 10 lakh seats at an all inclusive fare of Rs 2,013 for any domestic flight between February and April.
SpiceJet is now offering a 15 per cent discount on 12 international routes, including Kochi-Dubai (Rs 6,019), Madurai-Dubai (Rs 6,554) and Delhi-Guangzhou (Rs 9,803). Those booking under the discounted fare scheme can travel till March 31 next year.
The airline is also offering a discount of 25 per cent on at least six domestic routes — Amritsar-Delhi, Bangalore-Mumbai, Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Bangalore and Mumbai-Delhi. The journey has to be completed by December 11.
Terming the sale as a “tactical move” and “standard practice”, a SpiceJet spokesperson said the airline’s inventory was a perishable commodity. The quantum of seats on offer was not immediately made available. Generally, airlines offer only a limited number of discounted seats on some flights to stimulate travel demand.
While it is not uncommon for most airlines to follow suit and lower fares, Jet Airways told Business Line that it was not doing so, while there was no response from Air India and IndiGo.
Travel agents claimed that GoAir had entered the fray by offering seats at fares lower than those being offered by SpiceJet on some routes.
Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, said SpiceJet’s move was targeted at stimulating the market during lean periods.
“The other objective is generating cash, which may be the key driver behind the move,” he added.
> ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
> adith.charlie@thehindu.co.in
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.