Days of low-cost air travel over

Mumbai/New Delhi: Your low-cost joyrides in the Indian skies may no longer be that joyful. Rapid consolidation among the major domestic airlines now means lesser competition, which could be the perfect breeding ground for cartels and fare fixing.
After two mega mergers in Indian skies in recent time — the Jet-Sahara and Air India-Indian deals — Vijay Mallya's acquisition of a controlling stake in Air Deccan may mean a few more zeroes after its single digit fares.
"We will no longer sell tickets at a loss. But that does not mean there will be any immediate fare hike," Vijay Mallya, owner of Kingfisher Airlines, says.
Air Deccan's Managing Director Capt GR Gopinath also hints at costlier air travel now. "Because of greater efficiency, we will be able to price our tickets higher," he says.
Airline like Air Deccan has been consistently offering tickets below cost, even pricing some tickets at Rs 0 plus taxes.
SpiceJet has released over 2 lakh tickets worth 99 paise each in the recent months. Such low fares have meant a loss of Rs 400 to Rs 650 per passenger per flight.
Other low-cost players like SpiceJet are, however, keeping their cards close to their chest.
02/06/07 Jency Jacob/Neha Sharma/CNN-IBN

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air Deccan Jun 2007, Kingfisher Jun 2007