Airlines in price war to cash in on summer rush

NEW DELHI: Low cost airlines launched a limited price war on Monday following an announcement by Gurgaonbased SpiceJet, India’s second largest low-cost airline, of discounts of up to 75%.

The conditions: booking have to be made between February 24 and February 26 for travel between April 1 and June 30. Earlier, the carrier had announced a 50% discount on tickets on January 21 and had followed it up with a 30% discount offer the very next week.

Within hours, rivals IndiGo and GoAir were matching SpiceJet’s fares on most sectors. The GoAir website said the airline was offering tickets starting R1,726. The airlines did not specify how many seats they had put on sale. Air India and Jet Airways, too, are expected to join the discount war soon.

“Rather than borrowing from banks, advance purchase offers help airlines raise cash without paying any interest,” said Subhash Goyal, chairman, STIC Travel Group.

“We are seeing strong demand on the key leisure destinations like Goa, Kerala and bookings have more than doubled following the announcement,” said Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra. com.

“The latest discount offer is unlike previous offers as it provides passengers a chance to travel during the May-June period when schools break for summer holidays while the earlier offer were for travel during the lean February-April period,” said Rajji Rai, chairman, Swift Travel International Ltd. Documents in HT’s possession show that Reliance Industries Limited had started oil and gas exploration in the controversial Krishna Godavari basin without obtaining mandatory environmental clearances. Despite knowing this, the forests ministry (MoEF) gave RIL post facto clearnce >>P17