IndiGo joins AI, Jet to announce fare discounts

In what could be good news for domestic travellers, airlines seem to have declared a price war to entice more passengers in the festival season, with low-cost carrier IndiGo becoming the third to offer up to 40 per cent discounts on a month's advance booking, after Air India and Jet Airways announced similar discounts a few days ago.

SpiceJet, the third-largest airline in terms of market share, is also expected to announce a similar move shortly, according to an Economic Times report quoting travel industry sources.

These discounts are a much-needed respite for passengers who have been suffering under high air fares this year with Kingfisher Airlines almost out of action. The moves are clearly dictated by the fact that airlines are seeing low passenger loads, but airline executives fear this may hit their bottom lines.

Last Thursday, Air India came out with the 'Jaldi Jaldi' scheme, offering passengers up to 40 per cent discount on various routes, while Jet Airways came up with similar discounts a day later.

Under this scheme, tickets booked 30 days in advance on the Mumbai-Goa sector would cost Rs2,970, Mumbai-Delhi Rs4,931, Delhi-Srinagar Rs3,516, Kolkata-Delhi Rs4,818 and Chennai-Port Blair Rs4,378, inclusive of taxes.

IndiGo is offering return fares of Rs9,591 on Delhi-Mumbai, Rs10,202 for Delhi-Bangalore, Rs9,954 for Delhi-Hyderabad, Rs9,425 for Delhi-Kolkata, and Rs9,950 for Delhi-Chennai.

Fares on these routes otherwise range between Rs 6,500 and Rs 9,000.