No-frills airlines roll out discount schemes to attract passengers

MUMBAI: No-frills airlines Indigo, Goair and Airasia India on Monday launched several discount schemes in a bid to attract passengers in the upcoming festive season.

The airlines launched the discount schemes despite being hit by high costs, caused by rising oil prices and rupee depreciation, and lower profits—losses in some cases—during the previous quarters.

Indigo, the largest domestic airline by passengers carried, said it is offering discounts on a million seats across 59 destinations in its network for all-inclusive one-way fares starting at ₹999. Bookings of flight tickets for the four-day “festive sale” offer started on Monday for travel between September 18, 2018 and March 30, 2019, Indigo said. The airline has also offered a cash amount of up to ₹600 or 20% refund for passengers booking Indigo is offering discounts on 10 lakh seats across 59 destinations in its network for all-inclusive one-way fares starting at ₹999 tickets through mobile wallet provider Mobikwik.

Indigo’s four-day special sale reinforces its commitment to provide all its customers an on-time, courteous and problem-free experience at low fares, said Indigo’s chief commercial officer William Boulter. Airasia India has offered tickets to over 120 domestic and international destinations, starting at ₹999 for Discounts come at a time when airlines have been hit by higher jet fuel prices and weaker rupee, restricting their ability to raise fares domestic travel and ₹1,399 for international travel, the airline said.

Airasia India’s domestic discounts are applicable on flights to destinations such as Bengaluru, New Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Indore, Surat, Amritsar and Chennai, while discounts on its international routs i nclude flights to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Krabi, Sydney, Auckland, Melbourne, Singapore and Bali.

Bookings of tickets for the eight-day “big sale” began on September 2 for travel between February 19 and November 26, 2019.

Wadia Group-owned Goair is offering tickets across its domestic network starting at ₹1,099 for travelling from September 3 to March 31, 2019. Bookings for the three- day sale start on September 3, the airline said.

The various discounts come even as airlines in India have been hammered by higher fuel prices, a weaker rupee and intense competition. In the past year, Brent crude has gained 47.79%, while the rupee weakened 9.58 % against the dollar during the period.

“Airlines are trying to increase demand with discounts,” said an analyst tracking the sector with a foreign brokerage on condition of anonymity.