Domestic air fares on upward swing

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Most Airlines Cut Down On Special Offers As They Fail To Attract More Fliers
V Ayyappan TNN

Feb 9, 2009

Chennai: Flying to domestic destinations is going to be expensive yet again as airlines have increased fares, bringing them back to the pre-January levels. The fares were high in December but airlines had reduced them last month after Aviation Turbine Fuel prices dipped thrice. The airport officials too were hopeful that low fares would give a boost to the domestic passenger traffic. However, in a move which is expected to reverse passenger growth trend, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher have raised fares from Chennai to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The revised minimum fare is in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,500 for Chennai-Delhi; Rs 5,500 for Chennai-Mumbai; Rs 3,000 or more for Chennai-Bangalore; Rs 2,900 to Rs 3,500 for Hyderabad; and Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,400 for Kolkata. The rate increase is higher for Mumbai, from Rs 3,600 in January to Rs 5,500 this month. “These fares are the minimum for these sectors. But the majority of the seats will be sold at a much higher fare. The revised fares have already become effective for travel in the coming week,” admitted an Air India official. Air India has revised its Easy Fares, the minimum fare. Jet Airways have retained their non-refundable special fares and restricted Check Fares that are considerably lower than the regular fare. But seats are limited for these offers and passengers will get to buy tickets only on the higher revised fare. Air India will be withdrawing its highly popular Super Saver Fare of Rs 3,850 (inclusive of taxes) it had offered last month to fly to any destination. Other airlines have also decided to either drop or reduce the number of seats sold under the special offers they had introduced last month. “We have registered record sales for the fare in Chennai. The most popular destinations are Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. But we are not in favour of continuing it because such low fares are not ideal to weather the tough times,” said an Air India official. Even Kingfisher Red, which has limited in-flight service, is charging Rs 6,475 with fare component touching as much as Rs 3,400 to Delhi on February 11. “The special fare offers did not bring in an influx of passengers that was needed to tide over the losses the airlines are incurring every day in operations,” said a senior official of Air India. According to statistics compiled by the Airports Authority of India, approximately 5.08 lakh domestic passengers travelled in December via Chennai airport when compared to 4.46 lakh passengers in November. The figures have improved and had started nearing the 6.36 lakh domestic passenger traffic the airport had recorded in May 2008, just before the recession hit the economy. “Holidays and festivals have pushed up the air passenger traffic in November and December though the passenger statistics started to plunge, and even fluctuated up and down since July 2008,” said an official.