January-March being one of the leanest quarters for airlines in India, most of the air carriers on Tuesday slashed reduced fares massively after no-frills carrier SpiceJet announced a steep 50 per cent discount on base fares and fuel surcharges across sectors.
Following SpiceJet, Air India launched a short term ‘SpringSale’ of up to 50 per cent on all domestic sectors of its network on Tuesday. Air India said its promotional scheme would be up for sale from Wednesday till January 24 and valid for travel between February 21 and April 15. These fares, which would be as low as rs 1,357 including taxes, would cover all domestic sectors of the national carrier.
The fare on Agartala-Kolkata would be rs 1,385, between Delhi and Mumbai rs 2,830 and Delhi-Ahmedabad rs 2292, inclusive of taxes. SpiceJet scheme would be valid for travel till April 15 but bookings have to be made in the next two days and all applicable fee and taxes would have to borne by the customer.
“This kind of limited period off-season sale is a routine practice in the airline industry across the world and tactical inventory management, to help airlines fill seats that would otherwise go empty. It is revenue-positive for the airline,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said. The offer is valid for a three-day period starting today, the Chennai-based airline said, adding that the special offer will end on January 23 midnight.
“IndiGo and GoAir too have come out with similar offers,” a travel agent said. The move is being seen as an attempt by carriers to mop up funds for the March quarter, which is traditionally a weak period both from demand and revenue points of view. “SpiceJet and Indigo slashing airfares is an attempt to garner early bookings for the coming summer season,” travel portal Yatra.Com president Sharat Dhall said. Under the offer, SpiceJet is offering fares as low as rs 3,579 for the Mumbai-Delhi route where spot fares are as high as rs 10,098, while a Delhi-Goa ticket comes at rs 3,355 where the spot-fare is about rs 6,000 now.
With other airlines likely to follow suit, travellers are finally getting respite from the high airfares and will take advantage of these great prices to book their holidays in advance, Dhall said.
MakeMyTrip claimed it saw a 250 per cent rise in bookings within hours of the prices being reduced, with its chief executive Rajesh Magow saying “we expect this to go up even further as word about the offer spreads.”He said that after the success of similar promotions last year, “airlines seem to have hit on a winning formula to energise the sector.
Thus, they are able to drive purchases further out, improve forward-loads and yields by incentivising earlier purchases and gain yield predictability by filling up seats earlier.” Travel portal Yatra.Com President Sharat Dhall said “SpiceJet and Indigo slashing airfares is an attempt to garner early bookings for the coming summer season.”
With other airlines likely to follow suit, travellers are finally getting a respite from the high airfares and will take advantage of these great prices to book their holidays in advance, he said. Consultancy major KPMG’s Aerospace Division head Amber Dubey said the limited period discount offer would help stimulate demand in a lean quarter and generate cash for the airline.
Albert Dias, Co-founder of Musafir.Com said such discounts “often increase passenger traffic and prove to be advantageous to the airline as well as the industry.” Expedia GM Vikram Malhi too said the discounts were aimed at stimulating demand during the lean period and added that his premier travel has already seen a rise of 25–30 per cent in bookings. “last year also we saw such slashes across the first quarter of the year and thus can expect more such offers in near future with other airlines following suit.