Fare war in the air

Mumbai: Travel to the Big Apple just got cheaper, with a fare war breaking out among airlines flying the Mumbai-New York route. US carrier Delta rocked the boat on Friday with a new basic economy class fare of Rs 26,050 for a Mum-NY-Mum ticket.
Continental Airlines, which starts operations on October 2, will also offer the same fare on the Mum-Newark-Mum sector. Both carriers offer non-stop flights on the route. Other players like Air India, Jet Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa are likely to follow suit with new fares to compete with the US carriers, travel industry sources said.
The offer is valid for outbound travel from October to November 15, though the return leg of leg of the journey can be completed up to a year later.
The current offer is for tickets to be booked before the end of the month, but travel agents here said this is likely to be extended with more offers from competition. The basic fares have a build up of fuel surcharge and assorted taxes, added to them. These range between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on the airline chosen (see chart).
The fare-war has been triggered by the new capacity introduced by Air India, Jet Airways and Continental from August. The fall in fares mirrors a similar situation two years ago on the India-London route, when new airlines like Jet Airways and bmi started operations on the route.
25/08/07 Cuckoo Paul/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Aug 2007, General Aviation Aug 2007