Air India scheme triggers airfare war

Mumbai: National carrier Air India's promotional scheme offering reduced fares has triggered a price war among airlines, bringing cheers for holiday travellers.
Airfares have dropped sharply on most routes as airlines compete to woo vacationers.
"Fares would have been at least 25-30% higher if Air India had not dropped fares drastically, a race that all airlines have joined," said Sunny Sodhi , vice-president (air product) at online travel company Yatra.com.
Air India had launched the promotional scheme earlier this month to make up for the crippling effects of a 10-day pilots' strike it has emerged from.
The sharp fall in ticket prices has belied expert forecasts of a steep rise in fares during the peak summer holiday season.
Tickets are hard to find between May 15 and June 20 when most schools in the country are closed for the annual summer break. The high demand and limited availability of seats leads to costlier tickets.
In contrast, tickets this season are going south. For example, a one-way ticket from Delhi to Amritsar for travel on May 27 is available for 1,600 now. Tickets on this route are priced 5,000 onwards for most of the year.
19/05/01 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Categories: Air India May 2011