GoAir escalates fare war with tickets for Rs999
The offer will be open for 22-25 August for travel between 15 September and 31 March 2016
Mumbai: Escalating the fare war further, GoAir, run by Wadia Group’s Go Airlines (India) Ltd, cut fares by more than half for bookings from 22-25 August to lure passengers.
The offer, the airline claimed, that it will allow flyers to purchase tickets at a starting fare of Rs999 will be open for 22-25 August for travel between 15 September and 31 March 2016.
The offer is applicable on base fare only, and taxes and surcharges will be applicable, the airline said.
GoAir, in a statement, said its special offer is for the upcoming festive season. Generally, airlines offer promotional fares or flash sales to woo passengers in the lean season. But this offer is for peak season.
The peak season, that runs between October and February, coincides with festivals Diwali, Navratri, Dussehra and Christmas, as also an influx of international tourists flocking to India in the winter season.
GoAir’s offer comes at a time when rival airline SpiceJet Ltd is concluding its three-day flash sale of air fare starting Rs799 (excluding taxes) offerring 1 lakh seats on Saturday.
An additional 10% discount will be available for those booking through SpiceJet’s mobile app on Apples iOS and Android.
The travel period covered in SpiceJet sale is 25 August 2015 to 26 March 2016.
A senior executive at Mumbai-based travel agency said airlines are offering cheaper fares, but tickets for the time period of Diwali and Christmas are restricted to very limited numbers.
“Airlines are offering cheaper fares on select sectors with limited number of seats. But airlines are successful in generating interest with these stimulating fares. It is also offering one-way fare cheaper while making return fare of the same journey costlier," he said, requesting anonymity.
Incidentally, cheaper tickets aided by low fuel prices led to a 21.13% growth in air travel during January-July against the year-ago period, regulatory data showed.
Domestic airlines carried 45.58 million passengers during the period, against 37.63 million during January-July 2014, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
In the month of July, the growth was even sharper: 29.31%.
Dinesh A. Keskar, senior vice-president, sales, Asia-Pacific and India, at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said fuel prices have decreased 33% from their October 2013 peak even as Indian airlines pay up to 50-60% more for fuel than the airlines in the US.
Fuel costs are approximately 45-55% of the revenue of domestic players. A 4% reduction in fuel costs can potentially add around 2% to the operating margin, according to analysts.
Keskar said India’s domestic passenger traffic is at the highest levels. More than 66.4 million domestic passengers travelled by air in 2014. “We are expecting 75 million passengers flying this financial year," he said.
Keskar of Boeing cautioned that increased fare discipline is required to grow profitability, referring to stimulating fare tactics offered by Indian airlines.
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