Teaser rates: airlines at war again with Re 1 tickets

Similarly,Spice Jet and Jet Lite are offering return fares on the Delhi-Mumbai route between Rs 5,548 and Rs 5,860. The fares have climbed down as February and March are traditionally considered lean months. “For the next two months,the yields (average fare paid per mile per passenger) will be softer,” said Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (South Asia) CEO Kapil Kaul.

However,Kaul cautioned against a dramatic fall in fares,as the aviation industry seems to have learnt its lessons the hard way during the recession. “While these fares may not be rock bottom,it is unlikely that airlines will indulge in the kind of price war that one saw in the beginning of the last year. The market has matured considerably,” he said.

With the exception of Kingfisher Red,whose fares appear to be at least 27 per cent to 90 per cent higher than others,most of the low-priced carriers have brought down their fares by almost 30 per cent to 40 per cent from the year-ago period on some of the busiest metros.

Spice Jet,in fact,is offering a special discount ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 480 on round trip purchase of tickets on select metro routes.

A round trip on the Delhi-Bangalore and Delhi-Kolkata sector costs around Rs 6,000 and Rs 5,300 respectively,if booked at least 15 days in advance. Similarly,return far on the Delhi-Chennai route costs around Rs 6,000 on the low-priced carriers.

India’s GDP growth of 7.5-8 per cent reposes the faith that the worst is over and sector will attract traffic,said Kaul. “If the price of oil continues to hover around $75-80 per barrel during 2010,airlines will be able to post a sharper rebound and even report marginal profits. While the recovery in September last year was expected,the growth figures surprised even the industry,” said Kaul.